Operator accused of inventing complaints to illegally tow cars
By DAVE DANFORTH Daily Press Staff Writer
A towing service apparently made up a person out of thin air so the company could tow a car illegally from a Santa Monica alley, a judge’s ruling suggests.
The ruling stung the towing service, since it includes an order that the service not only return the $240 it charged to tow the car, but also pay the car owner $300 in lost income because she had to spend a day finding it.
The award by Judge Julius Title implies a cautionary note: towing services could be roaming the streets of Santa Monica, towing away the cars they choose illegally, and intimidating owners into paying sums they don’t owe.
Jenna Caden found her car missing when she went to the back alley behind her residence on Sixth Street in January. She admitted the car was illegally parked in a cubbyhole off the alley, but said police don’t bother ticketing there.
She finally found it after Williams Towing Service of Culver City reported it towed to police, as tow operators are required to do by law. Caden said she spent a day running down the car and taking a $47 cab ride to Culver City to pick it up. Caden, a Pilates instructor, claims she had to cancel six student sessions, at $50 a head, to retrieve her car.
When Caden sued, she got help from Brian Linnekens, a lawyer who shares her address. She claimed the towing service illegally towed her car and should return the fee, plus damages.
William Amaya, the towing service’s proprietor, claimed he received a call from a Michelle Jones who complained that Caden’s car was blocking her own.
However, a search by Caden and Linnekens turned up no Michelle Jones in the adjacent building in which Amaya claimed she lived.
“This woman was a phantom,” Linnekens claimed in arguing Caden’s case. He charged that Amaya invented the name in order to tow Caden’s car, and hoped that Caden would simply pay the towing fee and disappear without asking questions.
California law specifies that only police or the car’s owner may tow a vehicle without giving notice.
According to the state’s vehicle code, a towing company cannot remove a vehicle from private property without first obtaining written authorization from the property owner or lessee, who must be present at the time of removal.
“This was not a city matter,” Amaya claimed in calling the episode a “private impound.” He conceded that neither police nor Caden had requested the tow. But he insisted Michelle Jones was a real person who placed the call.
“The vehicle code was put in place to stop this sort of thing,” Linnekens retorted, charging Amaya with running a scam.
“The vehicle code was put in place to stop this sort of thing.” — — BRIAN LINNEKENS Plaintiff’s attorney
Judge Title agreed, although he rebuffed Linnekens’ claim for $1,000 in attorney’s fees for pressing the claim.
The towing service lost the case originally on Feb. 20, but appealed the ruling. In affirming the earlier small claims award, Title added $50, ordering Williams Towing to pay Caden $657.
Caden said the towing service was located “in back of a Sav-On lot” in Culver City set apart by a chain-link fence. She said her car was blocking nobody, and that the two spaces in the alley behind her apartment are commonly left alone by Santa Monica police.
In a bizarre twist, Caden claimed she received a threatening phone call from a woman who warned her to drop the case against Williams Towing. The woman, said Caden, hung up without identifying herself, but Caden’s caller ID picked up her number.
The number is listed to Nadia Chehade, a Culver City attorney. Contacted at her office, Chehade confirmed she has represented Williams Towing on some matters. She declined to answer when asked whether she had called Caden, claiming such a call would be confidential due to attorney-client privilege (Caden is not her client).
She then said she does not engage in threats.
When a Daily Press reporter confirmed the paper planned to run a story on the episode, she threatened a lawsuit.
“I’m telling you, I’ll have an action against you if you do,” she said before hanging up.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 30, 2002. Read the original PDF.