Chicago Tows Cars Without Notifying Owners, Class Action Says

A recent class action lawsuit claims that the city of Chicago is illegally failing to notify car owners before towing and selling their vehicles.

Plaintiff Andrea Santiago argues that the Windy City has impounded thousands of vehicles that it presumed to be abandoned.

Chicago allegedly deems vehicles abandoned and, without sending any sort of notice to the vehicle owners, sells these vehicles to third party towing contractors to be seized.

“The city, quite literally, is taking citizens’ property — one of the most essential assets someone owns — without any notice by mail,” Santiago claims in her towing class action lawsuit.

Santiago allegedly experienced this with her 1998 GMC Savana 1500. The van was reportedly equipped with special lift equipment that allowed her to enter and exit the vehicle in her wheelchair. Santiago says that for the past 20 years, she’s parked her van on the street if there was not enough room in her garage.

In June 2018, while the van was legally parked on the street, a sticker was allegedly placed on the van’s window saying that it would be towed if it was not moved within seven days.

After the van was towed, Santiago’s daughter reportedly called the city and the police and eventually was told that the van had been towed and was impounded.

Despite making repeated attempts to retrieve the vehicle from the impound lot, Santiago’s daughter was reportedly “given the runaround” while the family was assessed a towing fee and “ever-increasing” storage fees.

Eventually, Santiago’s daughter was allegedly told that the vehicle had been towed and sold for scrap at a salvage yard. Santiago says she received none of the proceeds of the sale.

“This is not an isolated incident, but rather is standard operating procedure by the City,” Santiago argues in the Chicago towing class action. “As a matter of practice, the City does not provide notice to similarly situated owners of vehicles that it claims are abandoned prior to towing and impounding those vehicles.”

The towing class action claims that the problem stems from the fact that Chicago has failed to comply with the Illinois 2005 Vehicle Code amendment passed to prevent “towing abuses.”

The state code amendment requires cities to give car owners additional warnings regarding their towed or impounded vehicles and inform these owners that the vehicles may be disposed of if they are not reclaimed.

Santiago claims that Chicago waited more than 10 years to change their own city codes so that they would comply with this state amendment. Despite making legislative changes, Chicago allegedly fails to comply with state code and reportedly sold 24,000 unclaimed vehicles in 2017.

Santiago seeks to represent a Class of consumers who had their vehicle towed by the city of Chicago after the vehicle was deemed “abandoned.”

She also seeks to represent a Class of consumers who had their vehicles towed by or through the Department of Streets and Sanitation pursuant to Chapter 9-92 of the Municipal Code of Chicago and later had their vehicle disposed of by the city.

The Chicago towing class action lawsuit seeks restitution, damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Santiago and the proposed Class are represented by Myron Cherry, Jacie Zolna, Benjamin Swetland, Jeremiah Nixon and Jessica Chavin of Myron M. Cherry & Associates LLC.

The Chicago Towing Class Action Lawsuit is Santiago v. City of Chicago, Case No. 2019-­CH-­07023, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

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