Towing Firm Wins Fight With Cities

A federal appeals court has handed a victory to a Santa Ana tow truck owner who used a federal trade law to circumvent towing regulations in several Orange County cities.

Patrick P. Tocher, who owns Pacific Coast Motoring and California Coastal Towing, sued the cities and police departments of Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Tustin in 1995, contending that deregulation laws passed by Congress transcended city ordinances.

Critics complained that Tocher was using the federal rules to charge higher-than-average towing rates. Santa Ana police said his company towed as many as 20 cars a night from private parking lots across the city, leaving no indications for unsuspecting owners that their vehicles had been impounded.

The case, and several others like it, has been closely watched in the towing industry and government legal circles.

Tocher lost his Santa Ana permit about six years ago after his firm was cut from the Police Department’s list of eight authorized tow truck operators. Then he got towing contracts with private firms, but he still had no city permit.

Police officials tried to stop Tocher, saying he could not legally tow cars parked anywhere in Santa Ana unless he had a city permit. The appeals court ruled Friday that, while a city can adopt rules covering tow truck companies it contracts with, the city cannot place restrictions on tow truck companies that do business with private companies such as apartments and shopping centers.