Photo Credit: YouTubeComing back to your parked car and seeing a giant yellow device stuck across the windshield is the kind of surprise that can ruin your day.In California, the key issue may be not just the inconvenience, but whether the person who attached it had any legal right to immobilize the car at all.Here's what to knowPrivate lots and businesses have promoted the "Barnacle" as a windshield-mounted substitute for towing and parking boots. But James Rubinowitz, a civil litigator and founder of Execute.law, said its use by private businesses in California may conflict with state law, Jalopnik reported.Rubinowitz pointed to California Vehicle Code section 22651.7 as central to who can immobilize a vehicle, especially since the manufacturer says the Barnacle sticks with 1,000 pounds of force."Vehicle Code section 22651.7 lets only police and salaried municipal parking employees immobilize a car, and only on public streets, and subsection (b) says nobody else may do it," he said.According to Rubinowitz, private companies have no authority to immobilize cars on private property, regardless of posted immobilization warnings. He also indicated another statute, saying, "Section 10852 separately makes tampering with someone's car without consent a misdemeanor."A business that charges a removal fee for a device it may not have been allowed to install in the first place could end up in a legal and financial dispute.More backgroundBackers describe Barnacles as a less invasive option than towing a vehicle or using a traditional boot. But in California, using one outside the bounds of the law can turn that claimed convenience into a new source of trouble for drivers, businesses, and already fraught parking disputes.One major concern is cost. Rubinowitz said private Barnacle fees appear to exist in a legal gray area: "There's no cap, and that's the whole story. The Legislature never wrote a fee schedule for private barnacles because it never authorized private barnacles. Compare towing, where the Vehicle Code caps the rate, makes knowing overcharges a misdemeanor, and lets the owner sue for four times the overcharge."There is also the risk of damage. Replacing a windshield can be expensive. "If the immobilization was unlawful, the fee, the windshield damage, and the cost of removal are on them. You can't break the law and then bill the victim for undoing it," Rubinowitz added.What can be done?Do not drive off with the Barnacle still attached. Rubinowitz noted that "Section 26708 of the Vehicle Code bans driving with any object affixed to the windshield at all. It doesn't ask whether you can still see … You're also going to have to pay for it since you'd be trading a parking dispute for a moving violation."If a private business placed the device on your car in California, you may have the right to remove it, but you would need to do so carefully. Damaging the Barnacle during removal could expose the driver to a vandalism charge, even if the original immobilization was improper.Where can I learn more?Questions about parking enforcement do not stop with Barnacles. These stories cover bike-lane enforcement, parking-garage vandalism, disabled-space violations, and mobile ad trucks.• A parking enforcer says vehicles do not have an exemption when stopping in bike lanes.• A Tesla's cameras exposed parking garage vandals before they could slip away unnoticed.• One lifted truck turned a towable offense in most states into a disabled-parking flashpoint.• Drivers are asking whether mobile billboard vehicles should be banned from roads.Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.