After a long history of complaints, Able Towing was shut down by a judge in June.
But in July, Metro inspectors spotted Able's trucks twice with cars hooked up to the wreckers.
Able Towing owner Mark Wayman has two civil suits pending against him from customers who say his business was operating illegally, and Metro revoked his license this year after learning his stepdaughter was authorizing tows of cars he was taking without permission.
Metro alleges that Wayman was continuing a long history of questionable behavior by disregarding the judge's orders to stop towing cars in Nashville, and has asked that he be found in contempt.
But on Friday the judge disagreed, saying Wayman "barely" passed her test of whether he was willfully going against her order.
It was another chapter in the drama between Able Towing and the Metro Transportation Licensing Commission, where complaints have been coming in for years that the company was towing cars without proper authorization, getting into altercations with unwilling customers and overcharging.
Earlier this year, Able Towing and City Towing were granted a federal jury trial against Metro, claiming they were discriminated against. They lost.
And after the licensing commission yanked their license for violating the rules, a chancellor upheld that ruling and told Wayman to shut down within 30 days.
"A lot of allegations have been related to their confrontations with people," said Brian McQuistion, the licensing commission's executive director. "There's a professional way of doing it, and there's a confrontational way to do it."
Wayman testified Friday before Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman that he misjudged the date he could no longer tow cars in Nashville. The order was issued on June 4, and a driver was caught in an Able Towing truck on June 6 towing a car.
Wayman said he thought he had until July 9. His attorney, Phillip Davidson, said he shared the blame because he gave his client the wrong date.
A citation was sent to Wayman through certified mail. He never picked it up.
On July 17, an Able Towing truck was spotted by a Metro inspector and another citation was mailed to Wayman. He didn't pick that one up either, but he contended that he sold the truck to 24-7 Towing, a company operated by his former employee and run out of Wayman's farm in Cheatham County.
The owner of that new company, Cesar Brambilla, testified he just hadn't removed the Able Towing lettering on his trucks, but he's made partial payments on them.
Bonnyman said Wayman's testimony that he thought he had a few more days "barely reaches a level in which the court cannot find he was willful," and there wasn't enough evidence to dispute that Brambilla was running a different company.
Nearly a fight at recess
As the court broke for recess before the decision, Metro Transportation Licensing Commission inspector Milton Bowling handed a citation Wayman never picked up to his attorney. In the hall, Wayman began to yell and asked if Bowling "wanted a piece."
"Get all you want, pops," he said, leaning toward Bowling and weaving in front of the broad-shouldered former cop. The inspector stood still and met Wayman's eyes until the towing company owner's friend and attorney pulled him away. Wayman stayed out of the courtroom until the judge returned with her order.
"I can't comment on that," said Davidson, the attorney. "There are some tempers, no question about that."
A civil case pending against Wayman's business also claims that a non-consensual tow from a downtown lot led to a fight with one of his employees.
A suit pending against Able Towing alleges it was towing cars from lots in the Division Street area without consent and refused to remove advertising signs from the lot of a business that didn't want it towing there.
Patrick Thurman, who represents the plaintiffs, said that Able Towing was illegally towing cars with the cooperation of restaurants in the area.
"In the process of towing the cars, the employees of Able Towing threatened and attacked the plaintiffs," Thurman said. "They rammed their tow truck into the back of one of my plaintiff's vehicles and physically assaulted him inside his car.
"It is our understanding that the city has revoked their license to tow, yet they have continued to tow cars nonetheless. We are hopeful this lawsuit will end that practice for good."
Bowling said he will continue to write citations if he sees Able Towing trucks in Nashville. The job has been more grueling at times than the 30 years Bowling spent in law enforcement, he said.
Bowling said he'd filed complaints in the past with Metro police about threats made against him by Wayman.
"I've been threatened more times in this job than in 30 years as a cop," he said.
Davidson said that Wayman is no longer towing cars, but he's continuing to fight the revocation of his license and plans to appeal the federal jury verdict that favored Metro.
"I feel like Mr. Wayman and Able Towing have been given a bad rap, and there's been a lot of misinformation put out about him," Davidson said. "We're just glad it's over."
( http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090912/NEWS03/909120354/2066/NEWS03/Able+Towing++Metro+take+feud+to+court+again )
