The Todmans were not home when the eviction happened, so they lost access to nearly all of their belongings, including a motorcycle. Their landlord offered to sell the property back for $5,800, according to the 4th Circuit opinion. He ultimately returned some of the possessions without payment, but the Todmans never got some of their belongings back.

The notice that is sent to tenants before an eviction is also confusingly written, the 4th Circuit panel wrote. The document warns that personal property will be deemed abandoned after an eviction, but the warning appears to apply only in failure-to-pay-rent cases because the notice is poorly worded, the judges agreed.

“Respecting one of the Constitution’s most basic guarantees should be simple and straightforward,” the panel wrote. “The notice due plaintiffs such as the Todmans should include the date of the eviction and the threat and consequences of abandonment. Critically, the notice should be readily accessible and easily understood and should be of a form that drafters of the ordinance would appreciate if their own property were at risk.”

The panel criticized the city for passing off blame to the state judiciary, which creates the notice form that is sent to tenants. The city could require landlords to provide additional notice or provide the notice itself, the judges wrote.

“What it cannot do is evade the requirements of the Due Process Clause by throwing up its hands and saying, ‘We don’t make the notice form,'” wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who authored the 30-page opinion.

The panel also agreed the city can be held liable for damages when the ordinance causes a violation of tenants’ rights.

A federal jury awarded the Todmans $186,000 in damages for emotional distress and the loss of their personal belongings in February 2023. The city did not challenge the amount of the award but appealed the lower court’s finding that the abandonment ordinance violated the Todmans’ due process rights.

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