Illegal Towing

[abdicus]

I am suing a business in California for illegally towing my vehicle from their private property.

Essentially, my vehicle's tires were on the curb of the corner parking space I had pulled into and it was subsequently towed (it was not on a sidewalk or impeding any other California law). C.V.C. 22658a dictates the responsibilities and guidelines a private property owner must adhere to if they wish to tow a vehicle from their property in California. One of these regulations is that there is a sign at all entrances to the property that forewarns visitors that the parking lot they are entering is subject to towing (this business did not adhere to this regulation). Instead, there was a sign near the stall informing that the spaces were for, "retail parking only," and, "2 hour limit." I did not contravene either of these parking edicts. However, my car was still towed. I have photographic proof that the business was not within regulation of C.V.C. 22658 by not having a sign at the entrance (which they quickly remedied once I brought it to their attention), and I have proof as well that I did not violate either of the listed parking commandments.

After an extensive volley of e-mails explaining the lack of legality concerning the towing, they refuse to refund me my money. We've exchanged approx. one dozen e-mails. My question is this: because I've succinctly and extensively explained how the towing was illegal and therefore it shouldn't have happened to begin with, and even though we've had numerous correspondences the culmination of the conversation came to, "so sue me," is it possible to sue, in small claims court, for my lost time with having to do the necessary research and filling out of court forms and going to court to get back the money they've illegally charged to begin with?

Can I sue for the towing fee plus the court fee plus a reasonable punitive amount? I was thinking one day of my normal hourly wage for time lost.

Thank you in advance for any responses.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by abdicus

I am suing a business in California for illegally towing my vehicle from their private property.

Essentially, my vehicle's tires were on the curb of the corner parking space I had pulled into and it was subsequently towed (it was not on a sidewalk or impeding any other California law). C.V.C. 22658a dictates the responsibilities and guidelines a private property owner must adhere to if they wish to tow a vehicle from their property in California. One of these regulations is that there is a sign at all entrances to the property that forewarns visitors that the parking lot they are entering is subject to towing (this business did not adhere to this regulation). Instead, there was a sign near the stall informing that the spaces were for, "retail parking only," and, "2 hour limit." I did not contravene either of these parking edicts. However, my car was still towed. I have photographic proof that the business was not within regulation of C.V.C. 22658 by not having a sign at the entrance (which they quickly remedied once I brought it to their attention), and I have proof as well that I did not violate either of the listed parking commandments.

After an extensive volley of e-mails explaining the lack of legality concerning the towing, they refuse to refund me my money. We've exchanged approx. one dozen e-mails. My question is this: because I've succinctly and extensively explained how the towing was illegal and therefore it shouldn't have happened to begin with, and even though we've had numerous correspondences the culmination of the conversation came to, "so sue me," is it possible to sue, in small claims court, for my lost time with having to do the necessary research and filling out of court forms and going to court to get back the money they've illegally charged to begin with?

Can I sue for the towing fee plus the court fee plus a reasonable punitive amount? I was thinking one day of my normal hourly wage for time lost.

Thank you in advance for any responses.

You can't sue for your time.
You can't sue for punitive damages in SCC.

[abdicus]

That's disappointing, but thank you for the quick reply!

[abdicus]

Oh! One other question regarding the matter:

This same code (cvc 22658) also explains that a business which tows a vehicle in violation to this code will be fined $1000. After I sue them, and assuming I win, who do I notify to ensure they are properly fined for their illegal tow?

[haplesshome45]

It would depend on the language of the Statute. Some "fines" are not precisely fines as such, which would accrue to the State coffers, but rather a form of statutory penalties that would go to you. For example, breach of the requirement that a "communication is from a debt collector in an attempt to collect a debt" would have the "fines" go to you as a statutory compensation for the violation. It may well be that the $1,000 would go to the auto owner whose auto was improperly towed. That would seem more logical; the State has little interest in private tows.

You have to check out the precise wording of the Statute. If it is a private remedy, then typically you would more likely than not have to file a suit, have a Finding of Fact made, and the Finding of Fact then leads you to your Judgment. Since you have photographs and the clear wording of the Statute that requires a warning sign, I suspect you have established enough to get past those hurdles. The Court would probably incorporate the $1,000 into the Judgment. And since the offending tower owns the land, you have an absolute remedy if they do not pay - you place a judgment lien on the property. That assumes that the land is not leased from someone else.

If the land is leased by the business, then you can only go after the business, unless you can establish that the owner of the land knew perfectly well what the lessee was up to and took no actions to stop his acts, such as for example taking steps to terminate the lease. My unpolished guess is that it would be most difficult to establish knowledge that would lead to such a negligence claim.

What puzzles me is that this is a business that invites others to park there to be customers. Were you a customer in that business? Or were you mooching on their lot to go shopping next door? If you were mooching, then you do have some culpability here, as the business has a direct and vested interest in maintaining available parking for its own customers - it is not in the business of providing freebies for the community. You might appreciate how irritating it was for the businessman to see all his parking spots being hogged by folks who are not even shopping there. For that, you do owe a humble apology, if that was the case.

Conversely, if you were a customer inside the store, and then ducked next door for 20 min to pick up something, and then came out and found your auto gone, then I can appreciate that you would be upset. But that does not seem to be the situation.

If you needed to mooch, then it certainly would have been polite to just stick your head inside and ask nicely if it would be OK to park in their lot for xxx minutes. That would have been polite, and you would not be walking home and paying out cash to collect your wheels. Sometimes it helps to just try to be nice.

[abdicus]

Wow, thank you Hapless for such an in-depth response!

But to address a matter you brought up:

Originally Posted by haplesshome45

What puzzles me is that this is a business that invites others to park there to be customers. Were you a customer in that business? Or were you mooching on their lot to go shopping next door? If you were mooching, then you do have some culpability here, as the business has a direct and vested interest in maintaining available parking for its own customers - it is not in the business of providing freebies for the community. You might appreciate how irritating it was for the businessman to see all his parking spots being hogged by folks who are not even shopping there. For that, you do owe a humble apology, if that was the case.

Conversely, if you were a customer inside the store, and then ducked next door for 20 min to pick up something, and then came out and found your auto gone, then I can appreciate that you would be upset. But that does not seem to be the situation.

Yes! This is what perturbed me most! This particular business is a type of apartment complex that sub-leases their bottom floor to smaller individual businesses. I was patronizing one of their shops, utilizing their parking stall. While my family and I spent 40 min, which is much shorter than the posted 2 hour limit, and 20 dollars on frozen yogurt (I have my receipt), my vehicle was towed for, "parked on lawn" (it was obvious that my attempt was to use the only spot available but was hampered by the vehicle in the next stall whose tires were abutting the stall limit; one of my tires was touching the grass. Which, incidentally, the vehicle that was parked in my stall when I came out had to park on the curb too!)

Still, I thought, WTF!? they illegally towed me while I was spending $20 on yogurt in their store?!? OH, I was so upset!

Anyway... ahah, it kinda feels good to vent, thanks for reading.

And thanks again for your answer, I'll try to decipher the code to see what the intention is...