The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

City slapped with class- action lawsuit

By Steve Enders

As the city of Sunnyvale's lawsuit with the San Jose Mercury News moved one step closer to completion last week, a frustrated commuter and a car owner slapped the council with yet another suit on Monday.

Plaintiffs Stephen Prater and Richard Pell filed the class-action lawsuit--which brings the city's towing and impounding practices into question--after, they allege, their car was illegally impounded and sold out from under them.

The suit contends that the city regularly impounds vehicles improperly and that its hearing practices for owners seeking to get their cars back are inadequate. The suit also contends that the city's contracted towing company doesn't properly notify owners before selling impounded cars in lien sales.

City Attorney Valerie Armento said she couldn't comment on the suit: "I'm still investigating the allegations, and I can't give an opinion on it. The response will be filed in court April 3."

According to the suit, a Sunnyvale public safety officer pulled Pell over on May 16, 1997, for allegedly making a "commuter lane violation." When the officer ran a check on Pell's driver's license, he found that Pell wasn't carrying current insurance, the suit stated. The officer suspended Pell's license and called Sunnyvale Towing to remove and impound the car, leaving Pell stranded on Lawrence Expressway.

What the officer didn't know was that the car was insured, but not under Pell's name, according to the suit. Prater, a friend of Pell's who had purchased the car several days earlier, was the legal owner of the vehicle. Prater carried insurance on the car, though the car was registered under Pell's name and Pell was continuing to drive it.

In the days following the incident, Pell and Prater said they called Sunnyvale Public Safety several times to get the car back.

"Each time, the Sunnyvale [Publuc Safety] Department refused to authorize release of the car, based upon the stated policy and practice of imposing a mandatory 30-day impound for all vehicles seized from drivers with suspended or otherwise impaired driver's license," the lawsuit asserts.

This city policy is in violation of state law, according to the plaintiffs. State law puts forth that the city can hold a car for a mandatory 30 days only when the driver has committed a "serious offense," including driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or vehicular manslaughter.

Sunnyvale spokesman Dave Vossbrink said he couldn't discuss the suit in detail, but he did say the city's impounding practices shouldn't be in question. "We're sure we're acting in compliance with state law," he said.

Sunnyvale Towing compounded an already sticky situation, according to the suit. Sunnyvale Towing officials sent a notice on May 23 to Pell via regular mail, warning him that they were going to sell the car to recoup the costs of towing and storing it. The suit contends that state law requires such notices should be served via certified mail.

"If the car is held for 30 days," Sunnyvale's Vossbrink said, "then the tow company can sell the car to recover the costs of holding [it]. The city gets no revenue from the sale."

To prevent the sale of the car, Pell and Prather told Sunnyvale towing that they would obtain a temporary restraining order against the tow company. The company told the plaintiffs it would not sell the car if they did not seek the restraining order, the suit alleges.

Sunnyvale Towing sold the car on July 9.

Sunnyvale Towing's manager Alan Guy says that the city and his towing company are in compliance with the state law.

"[The plaintiffs] were notified within 15 days," Guy said, "that's the state law. If we didn't notify them, then we couldn't charge them for the 15-day storage fees."

Guy dismissed the case, saying, "We haven't changed our practices. I don't even think it'll go all the way to court."

Amanda Wilson, an attorney for the Public Interest Law Firm who is representing the plaintiffs, says that a greater problem exists with the towing companies, not the city.

"The towing companies aren't following the state mandate about how to sell a car after its been impounded. They're not giving proper notification," Wilson said.

Those individuals who have had their cars impounded, Wilson said, are entitled to public hearings so they can defend themselves and get their cars back.

Dave Vossbrink said that those who have had their cars towed will get a public hearing if they ask for it.

Wilson says her clients, like many others who are unidentified in the class action, were never notified of their rights to public hearing or directed in steps they could have taken to get their cars back.

She couldn't approximate how many people have been through similar circumstances, she said. But, Wilson said that recently she has been "getting a lot of calls."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 11, 1998.
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