Potter v. Washington State Patrol

¶17 (dissenting) — The majority concludes that the Washington State Patrol (State Patrol) is not privileged under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 265 (1977) and may be liable for conversion. Assuming a tort claim for conversion can be asserted, which I question, an invalid rule mandating impoundment does not necessarily mean that every impoundment constituted a conversion. Instead, because state law authorizes impoundments, if the State Patrol establishes in a given case that the trooper’s im-poundment of a vehicle in fact would have constituted the reasonable exercise of discretion required…