DETROIT (AP) — A woman fed up with how a Michigan city tracked parking violations has won a major decision from a federal appeals court.
Alison Taylor says Saginaw violated the U.S. Constitution by chalking her car tires and gathering information without a search warrant.
The appeals court agreed, saying an exception claimed by Saginaw doesn't fit.
Saginaw says tire chalking is a signal to motorists that vehicles are being watched in a two-hour parking zone.
The city calls it a “minimal intrusion.”
But attorney Philip Ellison says Saginaw used chalk marks to illegally extract information from Taylor's car.
Taylor received more than a dozen parking tickets.
The lawsuit now will return to a federal court in Michigan.
