Motorcycle suit moved to federal court

By KENNETH HART
The Independent

ASHLAND February 18, 2008 11:08 pm

— A lawsuit filed last month by a group of motorcycle owners that claim their bikes were illegally seized by the Kentucky State Police as part of a criminal investigation has been moved from state to federal court.
An order was entered recently transferring the case from Boyd Circuit Court to U.S. District Court in Ashland.
The main reason the case was transferred is it involves questions of whether the plaintiffs’ Constitutional rights were violated, said Catlettsburg attorney Garis Pruitt, who filed the suit on behalf of the motorcycle owners.
In the state court complaint, the three name plaintiffs, Mark Justice, Terry Elliott and Pete Withrow, all of Ashland, claimed their cycles were among about 45 seized from owners in and around Boyd County last summer by the KSP and FBI.
Each of the seizures was done “without a warrant and without court permission” and were outside the scope of the KSP’s statutory authority, the complaint alleged.
The suit names as defendants the KSP and William Riley, a detective with the agency’s Lexington-based Special Investigations Section.
In its response to the suit, the KSP acknowledged seizing the bikes and it continues to hold them. However, the agency denies the vehicles were wrongly taken from their owners and maintains it acted within the scope of Kentucky law.
The KSP also states the cycles were seized “in conjunction with a joint interstate criminal investigation” with the FBI.
In an amended complaint filed in federal court, Pruitt maintains that by seizing the motorcycles without warrants and without giving the owners the opportunity to contest the seizures, the KSP violated the owners’ rights to due process of law under the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Also, Pruitt argues the state law the KSP cites to justify the warrantless seizures “is unconstitutional both on its face and so applied.” Similar laws permitting warrantless seizures of private property based solely on police officers’ beliefs have been struck down as unconstitutional in other states, the complaint states.
The suit was filed in federal court on behalf of the three named plaintiffs and “42 others similarly situated.” Court records also indicate Justice is no longer part of the case.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.