Vengeful neighbor towed my guest's car from my assigned spot

[Curious Liz]

I rent a condo in Washington, DC where residents have 1 assigned parking space each. There are signs posted throughout the lot stating that it is private property and unauthorized vehicles will be towed. People and their guests too often ignore this and park in other people's assigned spots. I travel often and I have found other cars in my space several times. I usually leave a note telling them not to park there. Guests and residents can park on the street if needed. One late night I came home to find a Cadillac in my space. I was leaving to California the next morning (for several days) and wanted to leave my guest's car (an SUV) in my space. The SUV needed an updated inspection sticker so I did not want to leave it on the street. I had the Cadillac towed. When I came back from CA Thursday night, I found that my guest's car had been towed from my space. In order to tow a car from that lot the owner needs to call the police to have the car ticketed, then the tow company will come get the vehicle. I did this, and I assume my vengeful neighbor did this as well. The police and the tow company did not ask me for identification and I assume they did not ask my neighbor either. By coincidence, we saw the Cadillac owner parking her car later that Thursday night and inquired about the towing. Her stories did not add up, and she carelessly admitted to parking in other people's spaces (and in front of a fire hydrant). She said other neighbors told her before not to park in certain spaces because she will be towed. She insisted that she and her boyfriend did not have my guest's car towed, but even the tow company said she was very angry and making many inquiries about who had her towed. A tow request for my guest's car was called in 20 minutes after she picked up her car. What can I do to seek justice?

 

[Zigner]

No worries - just hit "Edit Post" button and reinput your question. Don't use the preview button - it's broken.

 

[Antigone*]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

US Law Only

 

[Zigner]

I rent a condo in Washington, DC where residents have 1 assigned parking space each. There are signs posted throughout the lot stating that it is private property and unauthorized vehicles will be towed. People and their guests too often ignore this and park in other people's assigned spots. I travel often and I have found other cars in my space several times. I usually leave a note telling them not to park there. Guests and residents can park on the street if needed. One late night I came home to find a Cadillac in my space. I was leaving to California the next morning (for several days) and wanted to leave my guest's car (an SUV) in my space. The SUV needed an updated inspection sticker so I did not want to leave it on the street. I had the Cadillac towed. When I came back from CA Thursday night, I found that my guest's car had been towed from my space. In order to tow a car from that lot the owner needs to call the police to have the car ticketed, then the tow company will come get the vehicle. I did this, and I assume my vengeful neighbor did this as well. The police and the tow company did not ask me for identification and I assume they did not ask my neighbor either. By coincidence, we saw the Cadillac owner parking her car later that Thursday night and inquired about the towing. Her stories did not add up, and she carelessly admitted to parking in other people's spaces (and in front of a fire hydrant). She said other neighbors told her before not to park in certain spaces because she will be towed. She insisted that she and her boyfriend did not have my guest's car towed, but even the tow company said she was very angry and making many inquiries about who had her towed. A tow request for my guest's car was called in 20 minutes after she picked up her car. What can I do to seek justice?

So, your guest didn't have authorization to park there and wasn't properly registered, right?

 

[Antigone*]

Justice for what? This card did not belong to you, and it was not properly registered. It is not your debt to pay.

 

[Curious Liz]

We dont have "guest authorizatons" or parking passes in my neighborhood. Residents have one space (which is numbered), and if they do not pay their condo fee, they have that space taken away. The resident or their guest can park there. My guest's car was properly registered and there were several days left to get the SUV's parking brake fixed so that the sticker could be updated.

 

[Zigner]

You already stated it didn't have a valid inspection and you were worried about the inspection issues if parked on the street. If it was "properly registered" and still had "several days left" to fix the inspection issue, then why would you be worried about it being parked on the street?

 

[Curious Liz]

I worry about ANY car being parked outside of a private and personal garage, but that is just me. It is generally safer to park a car in a well lit parking lot, that you pay for, than it is to park on a street across from the woods where cars zip by all night. There are many corrupt people (average citizens as well as unfortunately some public servants) who will steal, vandalize, abuse etc. other people's property for a variety of reasons. Accidents happen as well, and as a matter of fact, as the cops were issuing the ticket to have the Cadillac towed, there was a huge car crash on the street. No place is completely safe from harm but some places are generally safer. I believe the ticket on the SUV said somethiing like, "no parking pass" as the reason for the tow. As I said before, we do not have parking passes in our neighborhood. The only person who can tow a vehicle from a numbered space is the landlord or renter of the condo.

 

[Zigner]

I worry about ANY car being parked outside of a private and personal garage, but that is just me. It is generally safer to park a car in a well lit parking lot, that you pay for, than it is to park on a street across from the woods where cars zip by all night. There are many corrupt people (average citizens as well as unfortunately some public servants) who will steal, vandalize, abuse etc. other people's property for a variety of reasons. Accidents happen as well, and as a matter of fact, as the cops were issuing the ticket to have the Cadillac towed, there was a huge car crash on the street. No place is completely safe from harm but some places are generally safer. I believe the ticket on the SUV said somethiing like, "no parking pass" as the reason for the tow. As I said before, we do not have parking passes in our neighborhood. The only person who can tow a vehicle from a numbered space is the landlord or renter of the condo.

Right - you worry about all those things...but in THIS case, your worry was the out-of-date inspection:

The SUV needed an updated inspection sticker so I did not want to leave it on the street.

 

[Antigone*]

At the end of the day and after all is said and done, the only justice to be had, is that the registration's default status needs to be cured.

 

[Curious Liz]

I am not trying to write a 20 page entry here with 10,000 details of concerns and assumptions. The basic issue is that a neighbor and his girlfriend had my guest's car towed from MY assigned spot, obviously out of revenge for having THEIR car towed from my assigned spot. The SUV was not towed for anything having to do with inspection stickers, it was towed for not having a parking pass. I was looking for any useful advice.

 

[justalayman]

The only person who can tow a vehicle from a numbered space is the landlord or renter of the condo.

Ok, so when you asked the tow company who authorized the tow, they said...?

If the person who authorized the tow did not have the authority to do so, the owner of the car has an action against them. If whoever had it towed had the legal authority and there was no justification, the owner of the car has an action against them. If whoever had it towed had both the legal authority and there was legal justification, then there is no claim to be made by anybody.

 

[Silverplum]

I am not trying to write a 20 page entry here with 10,000 details of concerns and assumptions. The basic issue is that a neighbor and his girlfriend had my guest's car towed from MY assigned spot, obviously out of revenge for having THEIR car towed from my assigned spot. The SUV was not towed for anything having to do with inspection stickers, it was towed for not having a parking pass. I was looking for any useful advice.

The useful advice has been given throughout your thread. You just don't care to hear it.

There is no "justice" to be had in this instance, except for the ticket to be paid. Nothing happened to you. It's a PARKING ticket for a PARKING infraction. It's not like an innocent person got the death penalty.

 

[sandyclaus]

I am not trying to write a 20 page entry here with 10,000 details of concerns and assumptions. The basic issue is that a neighbor and his girlfriend had my guest's car towed from MY assigned spot, obviously out of revenge for having THEIR car towed from my assigned spot. The SUV was not towed for anything having to do with inspection stickers, it was towed for not having a parking pass. I was looking for any useful advice.

Is it possible that the LL, or another friendly neighbor reporting to the LL, knowing you would be out of town for a few days, saw that there was a strange vehicle parked in your space, and knowing that you were sensitive and very vocal about unauthorized guests parking in your space, took the initiative to call it in and have it towed themselves? Since you say that the LL or tenant are the only ones who can call to authorize the tow, that particular scenario is entirely possible. If that's NOT what happened, you can be darn sure that it's the story the neighbor you THINK was the culprit might be using as their defense.

So what did the LL say when you asked them who reported the vehicle to them and requested that it be towed? Because unless it was YOU towing from your own spot, then the LL must have been the one to make the call according to your story.

 

[Curious Liz]

The Landlord did not have any vehicles towed. He is a very good friend of mine and I have spoken with him in detail about this after it happened. We will be speaking with the Condominium Association as well. He and I are the only ones who have the authority to tow vehicles from that assigned spot, so whoever else towed the vehicle was definitely out of line. Initially I thought maybe a friendly neighbor or my landlord had the SUV towed but after visiting the tow company and meeting the unstable Cadillac owner it was obvious that that was not the case. The tow company said they only had the initials "A.R." as the person who had the SUV towed, and that they cannot give out any further information. I think the police and the towing company were both wrong for not requiring identification and validation for the ticket and the tow, but of course that thought only came to me after someone else successfully towed a car from my spot. I am going to revisit this with the towing company and the police department but I initially posted this wondering if anyone had insight or if anything similar had happened to them. Also, this is not JUST a parking infraction or ticket, it is someone violating private property. What happens the next time a neighbor is unhappy? I'm sure no one would like to have their car or their family, friend or guest's car mysteriously towed from their own driveway, and with the threat that it may happen again at any given time.