reneemay08
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? california
My mother-in-law parked my car in a mini-mall parking lot to go shopping at Kmart. Before entering Kmart she walked across a small side street to check on me while I was shopping at Ross (I had taken the bus there after work and we had agreed to meet at Kmart afterwards so she could drive me home- she was just letting me know that she was already at Kmart since we didn't have our cellphones). She then went back to Kmart to continue shopping. When she finished and went to the car it was gone. Security had it towed while she was shopping and claimed that she had violated the parking ordinance that states "customers couldn't leave the parking lot for any reason or their car could get towed". There were signs posted to this effect. My mother-in-law has been out of the country for about 5 years (she retired and went back to live in the Philippines). But prior to that she has resided in the U.S. for about 25 years, working at an insurance company's call center. On her last visit to this particular mini-mall, the signs were not up yet (5 years ago) so it didn't even register to her to read the signs. When she went to ask the security personnel what happened, the security personnel (a woman) stated that the car was towed for 1.) violating the 1 1/2 hour maximum parking allotement and 2.) because she left the parking lot. When my mother-in-law tried to explain the situation and show her the store receipt the security personnel started yelling at her to 'speak up' and claimed to not be able to understand her english. When I tried to get an explanation from the security personnel, she was already yelling and saying 'if you people just learned english', and telling me that mother-in-law should learn how to speak english. The security personnel then proceeded to make fun of my mother-in-law in front of the other security guards by mimicking her accent and the way my mother-in-law was walking. While we were already walking away from the situation she then proceeded to laugh at us and make funny faces at us. Is there anything we can do to get any disciplinary action? My husband is considering suing the security company for discrimination and emotional distress to his mother. Aren't security companies supposed to screen their personnel and make sure that they can act in a professional manner? Can they tow my car? They don't seem to have any organized system in which to keep track of which people come and go so it seems to rely on the "security personnel" that they employ. And how do they keep track of which cars are there longer than the 1 1/2 hours? Some days I spend 3 hours at that mini-mall because my bank is there, then I shop at Whole Foods which is also there, then I go to Kmart and have lunch at the Thai restaurant- so why didn't my car get towed then?Any help would be appreciated. Please respond to my email address? Thank you!!
My mother-in-law parked my car in a mini-mall parking lot to go shopping at Kmart. Before entering Kmart she walked across a small side street to check on me while I was shopping at Ross (I had taken the bus there after work and we had agreed to meet at Kmart afterwards so she could drive me home- she was just letting me know that she was already at Kmart since we didn't have our cellphones). She then went back to Kmart to continue shopping. When she finished and went to the car it was gone. Security had it towed while she was shopping and claimed that she had violated the parking ordinance that states "customers couldn't leave the parking lot for any reason or their car could get towed". There were signs posted to this effect. My mother-in-law has been out of the country for about 5 years (she retired and went back to live in the Philippines). But prior to that she has resided in the U.S. for about 25 years, working at an insurance company's call center. On her last visit to this particular mini-mall, the signs were not up yet (5 years ago) so it didn't even register to her to read the signs. When she went to ask the security personnel what happened, the security personnel (a woman) stated that the car was towed for 1.) violating the 1 1/2 hour maximum parking allotement and 2.) because she left the parking lot. When my mother-in-law tried to explain the situation and show her the store receipt the security personnel started yelling at her to 'speak up' and claimed to not be able to understand her english. When I tried to get an explanation from the security personnel, she was already yelling and saying 'if you people just learned english', and telling me that mother-in-law should learn how to speak english. The security personnel then proceeded to make fun of my mother-in-law in front of the other security guards by mimicking her accent and the way my mother-in-law was walking. While we were already walking away from the situation she then proceeded to laugh at us and make funny faces at us. Is there anything we can do to get any disciplinary action? My husband is considering suing the security company for discrimination and emotional distress to his mother. Aren't security companies supposed to screen their personnel and make sure that they can act in a professional manner? Can they tow my car? They don't seem to have any organized system in which to keep track of which people come and go so it seems to rely on the "security personnel" that they employ. And how do they keep track of which cars are there longer than the 1 1/2 hours? Some days I spend 3 hours at that mini-mall because my bank is there, then I shop at Whole Foods which is also there, then I go to Kmart and have lunch at the Thai restaurant- so why didn't my car get towed then?Any help would be appreciated. Please respond to my email address? Thank you!!