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Student beats tow company in court
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Randy Clinger considered himself lucky. It was July 11, and according to a tow truck operator he had just spoken to, he could park in the lot of the abandoned Burger King at High Street and Lane Avenue while he took his two young children into Arby’s for lunch.
When Clinger, a graduate student in Education Policy and Leadership at Ohio State University, and his sons, a 3-year-old and 1-year-old, emerged from Arby’s, his car was gone.
Though there were no towing signs and no signs marking the lot a no-parking area, CAMCAR Campus Towing had removed Clinger’s newly-purchased 1987 Saab 900 Turbo from its space and left him stranded, Clinger said.
Clinger found a sign bearing only a phone number and decided to call it.
“Without it, I wouldn’t have known where to get my car,” he said.
When he called, “They hung up on me three times,” Clinger said. When he finally got through, a woman told him he’d “better bring $77 in cash or you’re not going to see your car again.”
Clinger asked them where he could pick up his car.
“They didn’t tell me,” he said.
Clinger eventually found his car at the CAMCAR Campus Towing lot behind the Shell Station at Kenny Road and Lane Avenue, where he said he found his car damaged.
Tom Dean, an employee at Krieger Ford body shop, estimated the damage to Clinger’s car to be $2,719 and said it looked as if it had been damaged by a person.
“Because with something like that, there’d be a lot of scrapes and scratches, if it was hit, or run into an object, such as a tree or a post,” Dean said.
“When my car got dinged, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was almost willing to swallow the $77 and let it go,” Clinger said.
He dropped his children off at home and went right to the police department to file a report. In the report, he expressed his anger at the way in which he and his car had been treated by the company that he believed had towed him illegally. He also said he had been set up by the first tow truck operator who had told him it was OK to park there, and that one of his children’s medicines had been left in the car.
Clinger’s case was scheduled to be heard at the small claims division of Franklin County Municipal Court, but when no one showed up in court to represent the towing company at the Aug. 15 hearing, Clinger said they lost by default and he was entitled to the $3,035 he was suing for.
When the Lantern inquired why they chose not to represent themselves at the trial and for any comment on the issue, CAMCAR Campus Towing manager Patrick Schick said, “I have no comment,” and hung up.
If he doesn’t receive his settlement, Clinger and his lawyer plan to seize a tow truck.
“We’re actually going to tow one of their tow trucks and have it sold at auction. I thought that would be sweet justice,” Clinger said.
Gary Newbold, Clinger’s attorney, was unavailable for comment.
Since the incident, Clinger has decided to start a group on campus to look into the different towing companies, learn their policies and monitor them to make sure they aren’t taking advantage of naive college students.
“From my understanding, a lot of people have been illegally towed and I would love to start this group, the Campus Coalition for the Rights of Student Drivers,” Clinger said.
Clinger, who received his undergraduate degree from OSU in 1991, thinks someone needs to look out for the younger students who may not be aware of their rights. Clinger hopes that students will rally with him to start the coalition.
He would advise students not to park in the lot between Arby’s and the abandoned Burger King. The lot now has many towing and no-parking signs which, according to Clinger, is “just another admission of guilt.”
Copyright c2000 The Lantern via U-Wire
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