Bill to Protect Motorists From Predatory Towing Clears House

One month after a tow truck driver hauled away a car with a sleeping 4-year-old boy inside, the House of Representatives has passed legislation that would ban the practice known as predatory towing.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said his legislation would close a loophole that has left the state powerless to do anything about rogue tow truck operators snatching cars on private property without getting permission from the property owner. The legislation next will go before the Senate.

Cox said the Feb. 10 incident in Garden Grove, which left a mother feverishly looking for her child after her car was towed, was the latest example of a practice that has “victimized” motorists.

Tow truck drivers do not need the permission of a property owner to tow an illegally parked car on private property. Some companies station an employee at complexes or parking lots, armed with binoculars and radios to contact tow truck operators as soon as a motorist parks illegally, police say.

“The whole game of predatory towing is to get the car out of there before the owner returns,” Cox said. “The lack of legal safeguards has resulted in tragic mistakes.”

Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said predatory towing has become a regular business practice for some companies. “It’s a big problem.”

He estimated that about 100 cars a week in Orange County are hauled away by predatory towers, mostly in Anaheim, Santa Ana and beach communities such as Newport Beach.

State law that outlawed predatory towing was invalidated in 1999 by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that California was overstepping its authority by trying to regulate towing on private property. Cox’s legislation would restore the state law.

On Feb. 10, Griselda Rojas double-parked her car with its emergency lights on at the Acacian Apartments on Laurel Street in Garden Grove to unload the vehicle in the rain. She carried a baby with one arm and groceries with the other and ran inside a friend’s home. When she returned -- in less than two minutes, she said -- her car had been towed, with her 4-year-old sleeping and strapped in his car seat.

The woman called police, who arrested Hinh Van Nguyen, 33, and an assistant on suspicion of child endangerment. Rackauckas said predatory charges were not filed because of the loophole in state law. Child endangerment charges were not pursued because the tow company employees were unaware the boy was in the car, authorities said.

Among those who complained to Cox was Newport Beach Police Chief Robert J. McDonell, who said more than 2,000 cars were towed from 13 parking lots from July 2003 to September 2004. Newport Beach police Sgt. Steve Shulman said it was difficult to determine how many were predatory tows because some owners did not report the towing of their cars.

If the law is passed by the Senate and signed by President Bush, tow truck drivers accused of predatory towing would be charged with a vehicle code violation that could require them to pay four times the amount of the removal to the car owner. Civil charges for unfair business practices, which would penalize the operator $2,500 for each violation, could also be filed.