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unlawful towing! please help me (cali)

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J

jkypes

Junior Member
California

hey guys,
i live in Koreatown right now, and last night i got home around 3ish, parked in a normal spot on the side of the road, and went into the apt. this morning my roommate and i come out and go to his car to head to the beach, and he had a ticket on his car. we look down the street, and EVERY single person on the street had a ticket on their car.

It gets better...

Im like "i hope i didnt get a ticket, lets go check" I go another street over, and my car and a few others that were parked around me were all gone. there was some big truck parked there. not a city truck or anything. so then i look and there is a sign up that says temporary no parking tow away zone. sat only.

I am POSITIVE the sign was not there the night before. what confirmed this suspiscion is when i went to pick up my car from the impound lot, ( $177 PLUS a $65 parking ticket), the guy working there said that every towing company in the area was towing cars out of my neighborhood this morning, and that his company alone towed over 100 cars! He also said that they are usually notified of temporary parking issues a few days in advance, and didnt get the call on this till this morning.

My roommate and i both rode home in my car last night, and both of us swear there was no sign there. how do i get my money back from the towing and get out of this unlawful ticket?

Thanks in advance
Jason
 


xylene

xylene

Senior Member
jkypes said:
California
Usually notified of temporary parking issues a few days in advance, and didnt get the call on this till this morning.

My roommate and i both rode home in my car last night, and both of us swear there was no sign there. how do i get my money back from the towing and get out of this unlawful ticket?

Thanks in advance
Jason
Click to expand...
Failure to notice the sign does not make it unlawful towing.

Unless you can prove there was a duty to notify or a required period that the notice had to be posted for and that it was not followed by the city than it is unlikely that you have nothing to stand on.

Tow truck drivers waiting like sharks is not unlawful either, but it probably is not real great policy!
 
J

jkypes

Junior Member
the thing is, how could i ever have expected to need to prove it wasnt there last night if it didnt get put up until the morning my car got towed, along with 100 others in my neighborhood. I believe in CA they are required to give a 72hr notice, and that did not happen.
 
xylene

xylene

Senior Member
jkypes said:
the thing is, how could i ever have expected to need to prove it wasnt there last night if it didnt get put up until the morning my car got towed, along with 100 others in my neighborhood. I believe in CA they are required to give a 72hr notice, and that did not happen.
Click to expand...
Prove this notice did not take place and you will prevail.

I hope carl chimes in on this.
 
Y

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
There is generally a municipal agency that keeps track of signage from who you can get proof of when the signs were erected (LADOT?). If the ticket was issued before the signs went up, there's your defense. If not, you'll have to hope there is a notice issue, (which I'm sure Carl can clear up).
 
CdwJava

CdwJava

Senior Member
The first thing to do will be to check with the parking authority to see when the signs were placed. If they were placed the night before, then the ciy had better scramble to make things right. However, if the ciy asserts sufficient notice (and off the top of my head I am not sure of how much time proper notice would be, but I suspect that it has to be signed at LEAST 48-72 hours ahead of time) ... I can look this up later.


First thing, check with the city on signage. Second thing, find out whether others in the area had the same problem - no sign when they parked ... that will give you witnesses. It is always possible that some hapless city employee was supposed to put the signs out days earlier but didn't get them out until the night before, and then SAID they put them out ... yes, I have seen it happen!

- Carl
 
J

jkypes

Junior Member
the dmv is saying the signs were posted on the 21st!

So now i need to know, is it 48 or 72 for LAmc?

also, the lady from the DMV said they were putting them out all day, there is no way she could tell me when it was posted.

my car was towed at 10:33 am. saturday, the signs were put out all day thursday...
 
Last edited:
M

moburkes

Senior Member
jkypes said:
the dmv is saying the signs were posted on the 21st!

So now i need to know, is it 48 or 72 for LAmc?
Click to expand...

Unless I'm mistaken, its not going to matter. Even if the signs were posted at 11:59pm on the 21st, then 72 hours is 11:59pm on the 24th. In your first post, when you mentioned "last night" at "3ish" (which I assumed to mean in the morning), which would really be 3am on the 25th, right?
 
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