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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Call to Tow Hotline Increase Today - Many Victims of Predatory Towing

Tow victim complaints have been steady this morning, predatory towing is alive and well in Texas.  From the DFW region, Excalibur leads with 6 complaints, three referred for prosecution; Texas Impound Services is no ambassador for the citizens of Denton, as this owner thinks he is above law having his tow hearings in Corrupt JP Holland's Court. They are responsible for 4 complaints, all referred to TDLR for Integrity violations due to licensee's behavior with vehicle owners.  Same story with Texas Impound Services, not one of his accounts have prevailed in a statutory violation lawsuit when vehicles are towed for expired tags.

Southwest Auto Tow generated a total of 17 complaints since Saturday, all were referred to TDLR and for prosecution by Texas Towing Compliance's legal team, against the parking facility the vehicles were authorized to be towed from.

In Austin and San Antonio, the last quarter of 2013 was not a good one for several towing companies and 2014 looks worse for predatory towing, especially for those parking facilities that have accepted bribes solicited by their towing company representative.  Reliant, A&A, Austin Express, J&J, Alberts, Customz, Atlas, Bexar and Park Right have been losing tow cases, many have unpaid judgements against them.

The motoring public is encouraged to question the towing of your vehicle from private property if you were forced to pay the tow company's extortion to get it back.

Texas Towing Compliance now has a legal team of attorneys that cover the entire state, as more have shown an interest to represent tow victims in their communities.  All of our attorneys will take the statutory violation lawsuit with a valid case on contingency. This should open the door for the minorities who have for years been targeted by predatory towing companies, to get their money back many times over, knowing they don't have to pay upfront attorney fees.  If you have been towed within the last two years, money is waiting for you!

The key to recovery involving a private property impound is to file a "statutory violation lawsuit" against the parking facility.  It is advised not to include the towing company in this type of lawsuit, as the parking facility is required to obey the towing law prior to vehicles being towed.

It's during this early stage of contract negotiations between the tow company representative and property manager, property supervisor or property owner that criminal conduct will occur.  It's used to be 25 years ago, a property manager would never even given it a thought to accept something of value from a towing company.

When and if a property manager, supervisor or owner enters into a contractual agreement with a towing company that includes "anything" other than providing the tow sign with instructions on where to post it and the removal of an unauthorized or illegally parked vehicle, they have committed a statutory violation the moment the first vehicle is towed, regardless the reason.

This statutory violation, Occupations Code 2308.401, will bring smiles to vehicle owners, their operators and lien holders in 2014, as the Courts are showing signs of improvement in upholding the towing law as written and handing down high dollar judgments against parking facilities, based on the outcomes of tow related causes of action since October 2013.

There are still bad Judges out there the public needs to be aware of, be sure to check those campaign finance reports for the Judge your thinking about filing your case in.  There is no filing deadline for a statutory violation lawsuit, as with the 14 day deadline with the tow hearing.

“The most important component of an effective justice system is the public’s ability to trust those who are responsible for enforcing the law. But even when there is a breach of that trust, as in many tow hearing cases, the public should take some comfort in knowing that there is a mechanism for detecting, rooting out, and punishing those who would corrupt the process."