Towed Car Brings Lawsuit

Every space in the lot has a pole-mounted sign standing in front of it. All but one of the signs say either, "Haven Bank parking only, 30 minutes"or "Haven Bank employee parking only." Sandra Morris parked in one of the employee spots. Both variations have a warning at the bottom that reads, "Violators will be ticketed and towed at owner's expense."

At some point after the Verona couple's car was towed, a new sign appeared near the entrance to the lot that reads, "Haven Bank customer parking, 24 hour video monitoring and enforcement." This more detailed warning does not appear in photographs taken by Morris on May 26, the Saturday after his SUV was dragged away.

Morris called the original signs "ambiguous,"

HAHAHAHA! What a gigantic jackass this man is. How is "employee parking only" ambiguous?

Because there are NO BANK EMPLOYEES OR CUSTOMERS at night.

Who in their right mind, including the bank and the landlord, would think to extend that to hours when the business is closed? Towing cars who park in your business's parking lot when your business is closed and the lot is empty is pure and simple greed, and an example of being a bad neighbor.

While I understand the bank's stand on this, for insurance purposes, and they were in their right to act as they did, Mr. Shane's behavior was reprehensible and unacceptable. Why could't he at least tell the woman where her car was towed? And why did he have to use foul language? The fact that he would not return the reporter's calls speaks volumes.

Don't know if Mr. Morris has a court case, though. He'll need a really good lawyer for this one.

Yeah, how dare people not want others to use their private property! How dare landowners not just accept liability for trespassers!

Amandala, what would the plaintiff here be doing if a tree limb fell on his wife's car? What if his wife tripped on the bank property, or had her car stolen or, God forbid, was the victim of a violent crime on the bank's property? Given his acid refluxing over a mere tow job warned of by signage, picture what he might do if he had a more valid tort claim!

Yet the landowner is greedy for taking action to prevent trespass.

Huh, good thing the Montclair Times got all sides of the story! Did they bother calling the tow company and asking their side if the story? NO!
Mr Morris is an elitist a@@hole with too much time on his hands. Maybe he should be taking care of health instead of trecking to Newark for a couple of hundred bucks.

"If parking is difficult, you reach out to people. You help people," said Morris, of Verona.

I'm glad to know next time I'm having trouble parking Mr. Morris will be there to scout ahead and find me a space in time for my manicure! And I'm sure his wife paused before her selfish act to make sure all handicapable, elderly persons or pregnant women had found parking before she parked her own car.

I don't see a white trash lawsuit anymore - its all halos and sunshine.

Why not park in his driveway when he's out.

appletony's remarks are right on. Another reason the property owners do this is to stop overnight parking. Just what you need running a business, your neighbors taking up spaces when they don't move their cars in the morning, and then suing you when the bow breaks over the car. Bad, very, very bad bank people.

Face it folks...this isn't the fifties!

It is a litigious society that we live in. Everyone is out for a buck, whether that is blaming someone for their own actions or being an opportunist, as in the bank owner's towing.

And true, if anything had ever happened to Sandra's car, you better BELIEVE she and Norman would have tried to collect money from the bank for damages. This is just how things are. The Morris family needs to realize that their actions have consequence.

Drop the suit and start following the law.

While it sucks for the Morriseses that their car was towed and subsiquently damaged, I don't see the point in suing for the towing fee or storage fee (which I'm assuming is part of what he is calling the towing fee).

However, I agree that he should be going after them for the damage to his car. There's no reason why the tow truck operator couldn't have done his job properly and removed the vehicle without damaging it.

Most likely it was done as a rush job in case the owner showed up and confronted him... of course, this could have all been avoided if Mrs. Morris just parked her car in a legal spot.

So yeah: They should have had to pay the ticket and the towing/storage fees, but are in the right to go after the damages that were done to their vehicle, IMHO.

ROC took the words out of my hands. I'd be livid if I came home from work during which time I was "not using" my driveway and find my neighbor's car parked in it!! (unless he asked me first and we agreed on an exit time!)

"Most likely it was done as a rush job in case the owner showed up and confronted him... of course, this could have all been avoided if Mrs. Morris just parked her car in a legal spot."

I don't think that is the "most likely" scenario.

I dunno, ROC.

Back in my college days Roach's was notorious on the MSU campus for doing slap-dash tow jobs and damaging people's cars in the process.

When done properly with the type of truck they use and depending on how the car was parked (face in or out) there really shouldn't have been any damage to the car beyond possibly a small scratch in the paint or window if they had to jimmy the door or maybe some uneven wear to whichever tires were locked by the parking break (according to a mechanic friend of mine who owns his own towing service).

But, like I said, this would have all been a non-issue if she just drove around looking for a legal spot like most of the rest of us would do.

Since when does a property owner have to make their land available to the public when it's vacant?

Why was the (no) parking ticket dismissed?

My wish will be granted if the small claims hearing includes something like this:

Your honor, "violators will be ticketed and towed at owner’s expense" could not reasonably be construed to mean that violators will be ticketed and towed at owner's expense! The sign neither specifies the type of paper stock upon which said "ticket" will issue, nor whether the towing method will be by flatbed, conventional rig or other means. In fact -- and I bring this to your attention with OUTRAGE -- the sign implies that the alleged "violator" -- the person themself -- might be towed!!! Is that not kidnapping???!!!! WHY HAVEN'T THE AUTHORITIES REACTED TO THE THREATENED KIDNAPPING OF MY WIFE??

amandala, can I come and park in your driveway when you are not home? Am I suppose to know when you'll be back? Why is it any different than a bank parking lot. Land belongs to them. Not anyone else. I'll bet she didn't even have an account in the bank.

Oh, Mike, were you the one who parked in the dean's parking spot? Roach's Towing has been in town for over 25 years. I think they would know how to tow a car, don't you think? Roach's is on Bloomfield Ave and MSU is all the way in Upper Montclair, pretty long distance to scoop and run. MSU does not tow a car until it has $500.00 in parking tickets. At $25 per ticket that is a lot of parking violations. Just seems like everyone feels they can park where they want and with no consequences.

Here's what's happening: This guy Morris made a big fool of himself going public on this, got nothing but scorn where he expected a hero's welcome, and to save face he's now determined to prove to the rest of us knuckleheads that he's been right all along.

And that's the view from narcissism lane.

montclairgirl,

My parking permits were always paid up and my car in the appropriate commuter or resident parking space (as applicable to which year of school I was in), thank you very much.

It would be pretty hypocritical of me to say that the Morris' vehicle should have been ticketed and towed if I made a habit of breaking the same laws myself, no?

As far as when / how Roach's would tow: I know for absolute fact that they would tow people on a first offense or when someone was paid up on previous parking tickets (that added up to MUCH less than $500.00) as I had to bring one friend to get her car out of impound because she was 30 minutes past the 2am commuter lot cut off during the FIRST WEEK of our Freshman year... Kind of hard to rack up $500 in tickets in 7 days.

I had another friend who's resident sticker had come off and their car was towed from the resident lot. He had tickets in the past, but was entirely paid up on them (I was standing not 10 feet away while he confirmed this with the MSU parking authority).

While walking through the various lots of my alma mater I have witnessed Roach's employees taking cars away and it has almost always been in a haphazard fashion because, when they are confronted, it can be very ugly.

I remember one spring night when the time got away from us and I wound up racing the Roach's truck to my friend's car. We actually beat it there and were in the process of unlocking the doors as the truck pulled up and the driver had the nerve to tell us he was still going to try and tow her.

So, yeah, Roach's does things haphazardly to the point of damaging cars, they are the towing service of choice for MSU (or at least they were from 1999 - 2003), and they do tow before you hit $500 in tickets.

Are there any other conclusions you’d like to jump to or groundless accusations you’d like to make?

Like I said, park where you want but if your car gets towed, don't blame the tow service if it is illegally parked. The Campus police tells the towing service what cars to tow, not the other way around, no? So if campus police calls Roach's to tow a car for whatever reason, Roach's towing is suppose to say "Nah, let's give them a few more hours, maybe the time just got away from them". The tow company is just doing their job as per requested by the campus police.
As for haphazardly, how many cars have you towed in your life, Mike? So who's really jumping to conclusions and assumptions here?
When your waiting for a tow truck and he arrives promptly, you have a big smile on your face. When an authority has your car towed it pisses you off. Sounds about right for montclair.

I wish they'd resume towing people from the Chase lot on N. Fullerton. Bimbos parking there for their 2 hours at Bangz & I'm there to transact biz with the bank & can't find a slot. Grrr.

Actually, I attended MSU from 1998-2002, and I know for a fact,having had my car towed for it, that it is the parking authorities policy to tow your car after your account accumulates $500 in fines. The only other reason you could get your car towed is if you parked in a teachers spot, a fire lane, or basically any place not designated for student parking. We all knew that we were taking a chance when parking illegally. Got away with it many times, but of course it was only a matter of time. I went and paid to get my car out and the guys there couldnt have been any nicer. No damage ever done to mine or any of my friends cars. Of course it is going to look bad when they are towing it because they dont have keys. I have personally seen students throw bricks through the tow trucks windows, shoot at the drivers with paintball guns, throw eggs and golf balls at them. No wonder they seem in a rush to get out. Plus, they are not doing it for their health, the police and parking services tells them they have to tow it. I am sure the tow truck driver would rather be home sleeping than towing idiots' cars at MSU 3 in the morning.

What part of PRIVATE PROPERTY confuses this fellow?

As for haphazardly, how many cars have you towed in your life, Mike? So who's really jumping to conclusions and assumptions here?

Me, none. How many has one of my father's friends from high school who is a mechanic and has had a tow service as part of his business since the early 1980s towed? I really don't know, but I'm sure it's a lot more than you have. So, yeah, if he tells me there are ways to tow a keyless car without damaging the underside; I'm going to take his word over yours.

You also keep failing to notice that I think Mrs. Morris DID deserve to be towed for parking illegally.

And where, oh where, in any of my 3 above posts did I fault the Roach's drivers for towing people? That they did their jobs does not bother me, just the fact that they sometimes do it poorly (as seems to be the case with the Morris's vehicle).

You should really read an entire post before trying to argue with someone.

John973,

I can only present the situations as I've witnessed them myself. Maybe MSU's system is imperfect (as were many aspects of school admin back then) and innocent people got towed instead of ticketed, etc.

I agree that the people at Roach's have always been pleasant to people who came in being pleasant to them. The only time I heard one of my friends say he had a hard time... well, let's just say he had an overly aggressive personality that probably didn't help him.

This should get an award or something for the most stupid pissing match ever

This should get an award or something for the most stupid pissing match ever

Yes, ROC, I agree with you. Mr and Mrs Morris are really the lawbreakers here, not the tow service. Any car, with or without keys, can get damaged by towing. Is it damage done on purpose? Did the tow company offer to pay for damages if they deemed they may have been at fault? Mike, your friend has never damaged a car while towing it? Wow, I am impressed!! What's his number, I would like to speak to this perfect man!
Lexus's have tow rings on the undercarriage. They are used to tow the car, with keys or without keys. They are not the strongest metal in the world but they do work. They do become distressed after a while from having a car towed multiple times. Perhaps this is what happened to Mr. Morris's car.
I have a '56 Chevy that I will only let Roach's tow because they know their shit about cars.
You started the pissing match, Mike, by making a blanket statement about a specific towing service. Let's end it here, okay?

If Roach damaged the car while towing it, they should pay up. Surely they have insurance. This much I'll grant Morris (the poor fop).

"Actually, I attended MSU from 1998-2002, and I know for a fact,having had my car towed for it, that it is the parking authorities policy to tow your car after your account accumulates $500 in fines. The only other reason you could get your car towed is if you parked in a teachers spot, a fire lane, or basically any place not designated for student parking."

Hey I'm a newbie, been lurking for a few months now. I know this thread is going on a slight tangent but I cannot resist. I was also a student at MSU from 1998-2002 and I have been towed for parking in a STUDENT PARKING lot. Yes it was past the 2am cut off but I was actually doing school work in the overnight computer lab. Even if I bothered fighting the parking ticket of $15 I would not be able to fight the towing and storage fees with much ease of course. The funny thing is that when I got to campus earlier that evening I had managed to squeeze into a faculty lot between an opening in the lot just big enough for a compact car to fit. I saw the sign posted in the faculty lot that cars are subject to towing after 2am so I left the computer lab around 2am to move my car to the student lot, not realizing that that lot had the same parking policy until I parked and saw the sign. Long story short, my car was towed yet the cars in the faculty lot were not. Why? Most likely because the truck did not have a way of getting into the faculty lot because the gate was down with no one in the "Gate-control booth". The moral of the story? I was better off being parked, as a student, in a faculty lot than in the student lot. When I get called for alumni donations again hopefully I will remember to tell them to go to Roach's towing for my donation.