Police Blocked in Bid to Change Towing Firms : Garages: The restraining order comes after a Van Nuys company filed suit claiming law enforcement officials helped a competitor win the franchise.

A judge Thursday halted the city’s attempt to stop a Van Nuys towing company from operating as an Official Police Garage after the business filed a lawsuit accusing the Police Department of illegally steering the lucrative towing franchise to a competitor.

Police in Van Nuys had begun using other towing services, called OPGs, Thursday morning.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Huss issued a temporary restraining order later in the day allowing Fox Motors Inc. to continue as the garage that handles all towing in the Van Nuys Division.

A hearing on whether to allow Fox Motors to continue to operate until the lawsuit is settled is scheduled for Aug. 20.

Police declined to respond to the allegations in the lawsuit.

Cmdr. Frank Piersol, who is named as a defendant in the suit along with several other officers and the department, said he was surprised by the legal action.

He said he could not comment on the specific allegations until they have been investigated.

Piersol said the Police Commission, which approves franchise awards, delayed voting on the Van Nuys contract last month because of protests raised at the time by Fox Motors.

Piersol is chief of the commission’s investigation unit.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday is the latest round in a two-year skirmish between the investigative unit of the Police Commission and Fox Motors, which has held the police towing franchise in Van Nuys for 36 years.

There is one OPG franchise in each of the police department’s 17 divisions.

Fox’s lawsuit stated that the franchise is worth $1.5 million a year.

Last year, the city sought to revoke the Fox Motors’ franchise after commission investigators filed a 105-count administrative accusation alleging that numerous cars towed by the company were sold without required notification of their owners, the public or police.

According to the accusation, at least three of the cars improperly sold or used by Fox Motors were being held as evidence in murder investigations.

Police said the loss of the cars did not compromise prosecutions. The investigation of the garage was prompted by a woman’s complaint that a Mercedes-Benz her ex-husband had been slain in was sold by Fox Motors without consent.

Henry Fox, the 76-year-old holder of the franchise, agreed a year ago to give up the police towing contract.

He denied any wrongdoing but relinquished the franchise because he could not afford the emotional or financial toll of a lengthy legal battle with the commission, a Fox Motors spokesman said at the time.

Under terms of the agreement, Fox Motors would continue to handle police towing until the end of last month, and Fox’s son, William Fox, would be allowed to compete for the new contract.

William Fox is general manager of Fox Motors in the 15100 block of Erwin Street.

But the father and son charge in their lawsuit that the selection process which began in March was rigged from the start.

They say the eventual winner of the selection process, Mike’s Club Towing of Sun Valley, was aided by at least one commission investigator who helped the business find a Van Nuys garage location, a vital consideration in awarding the contract.

“This is a secret competitive bidding process and they’re assisting one applicant to enhance his chances,” said K. Phillip Knierim, an attorney representing Fox Motors.

The lawsuit said application hearings were held secretly without notice to the public, that police conducted no environmental reviews of proposed garages, and that the final score sheet of applicants contained “skewed, fallacious rankings” unfavorable to Fox Motors and putting Mike’s Club Towing--which had never operated as a police garage--first.

According to the suit: “From the very start, this application process was marked by deception, secrecy, clandestine attempts by certain police officials to promote the interests of one competing application over the others, and deliberate failures to follow fair and lawful procedures.”

Mark Henninger, owner of Mike’s Club Towing, said the accusations in the lawsuit are completely unfounded. He is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

“I received no outside help from the Police Department,” Henninger said. “I don’t know how they feel it was rigged. It is a complete mistruth to say the police helped me in any shape or form secure the property” for his proposed Van Nuys garage.