Portland man gets refund, and he wasn't the only one wrongly towed

by Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

Brent Wojahn/The OregonianMike Meier of Southwest Portland had his car towed in April from a handicapped parking space outside the defunct McCall's Restaurant, although he has a handicapped permit. The tow company said he needed a special McCall's permit, as well. Meier spent the past five months contesting the tow, and last week got a $194 refund.

Meier, 43, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair, parked his blue 1995 Ford Explorer in a handicapped spot outside the defunct McCall's Restaurant. He had a state handicapped permit hanging in the window.

When he returned about 40 minutes later from wheeling around the riverfront, Meier's car had been towed. With the help of a friend, he retrieved it from Sergeants Towing later that day, forking over nearly $200. The tow company told him that Meier didn't have a special McCall's permit required to park in the lot.

"They said everything was clearly marked, and I shouldn't have been parking there," Meier recalled. But he wondered why he needed a special McCall's permit if the building looked empty. "I just thought, 'Something wasn't right.'"

Meier's hunch was right -- but it took him five months of dogged effort and intervention from a state senator's aide to get the city to discover that Sergeants Towing was hauling away cars from nine prime parking spaces in the heart of the city without any legal authority for nearly half a year.

Last week, Sergeants refunded Meier the $194 tow fee after the city ordered it to stop patrolling the riverfront lot.

Meier filed a complaint in April, days after his car was towed. It wasn't until last week that the city realized that Sergeants Towing was operating on an expired patrol tow agreement with Dragon Sports USA, an organization that had rented office space in the old McCall's building in summer 2007. Their lease expired in January.

"When Dragon Sports ceased to have a lease with the city, no one told the tower," said Marian Gaylord, the city's tow coordinator.

This year, Sergeants has towed 42 cars from the lot, city records show. Meier did the math: 40 tows, at nearly $200 a tow. That's at least $8,000.

So, will those car owners get refunds, too? "Well, this is the only complaint that we had," Gaylord said. "Unless people contact us, we have no way of knowing who they are."

The property at 1020 S.W. Naito Parkway, beside the Salmon Street Fountain, is owned by the city Bureau of Parks & Recreation. Since February 2005, no restaurant has occupied the old McCall's Restaurant. Last week, Gaylord advised Sergeants Towing to stop towing at the location and to remove its signs. But Tuesday afternoon, several signs remained, still warning drivers they must obtain a special McCall's permit.

"We called Sergeants and told them to take down the signs and not patrol that area any more," Todd Lofgren, business development coordinator for the Parks Bureau, said Tuesday.

Gaylord says she has also advised the Parks Bureau to contract directly with tow companies for any property they lease in the future so they can monitor what's happening. "It is assumed the public agency will police their own contract," Gaylord said.

Sergeants Towing President Steve Preston said his company stopped towing from the lot last week at the city's request. He said he wasn't aware that the lease had expired, saying Sergeants had continued contact with a member of Dragon Sports, Marla Baker, who had stayed on to help the city Parks Bureau rent the McCall's site for special events.

"She imparted to us that she was still the authorized agent," Preston said. "She never told us the lease ran out."

Lofgren said he had been unaware Sergeants was regularly towing cars when no special events were held at the site. "Our agreement with Dragon Sports USA ended in January, so that agreement with Sergeants should have ended then, too," Lofgren said.

Baker was out of the country on a rafting trip Tuesday, said her husband, Chuck Baker. "This is all a big misunderstanding," he added.

Gaylord said the tow company won't be penalized because she believes it acted in good faith and was unaware of the "gap in the tower's legal authority" and refunded Meier's money.

"There was considerable confusion about this situation," Gaylord said.

Tim Barrett, a self-described tow victims' advocate who was put in contact with Meier through state Sen. Avel Gordly and helped him navigate the complaint system, said he's concerned other patrol towing agreements are not being regulated closely. "The tow companies tend to believe their patrol towing agreements are kind of like mineral rights, where they never expire, even if the property changes ownership," Barrett said. "They're not very good at monitoring those agreements, but they got stung on this one. ... I don't hate the towing industry, but if you're going to do it, try to do it by the book."

--Maxine Bernstein; maxinebernstein@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com...an_gets_refund_and_h.html