QuestionHello, I live in Florida and 3 weeks ago I made a pitstop to get some
lunch in Sunny Isles which belongs to Miami-Dade county. After I left the
restaurant we walked to a Starbucks located in the same plaza to use
their wireless network and then within less than an hour my vehicle was
towed. I contacted the towing company and even the manager was
willing to speak to them but they didn't care. In addition we later saw
the man that supposedly towed my car and he stated he "saw" us
walking north which indicated in his point of view we where leaving. This
was an assumption he made. I have all the receipts with the time posted
which indicates I was still allowed to be in this plaza. I have been trying
for the past 3 weeks to resolve this with the plaza management but they
are not responding. I also saw online that the towing company has to be
within 10 miles of the location towed otherwise it is a felony. What ate
my rights to peruse this case? Should I take them to small claims court?
Should I go after towing company or plaza management? Please help!
AnswerWell first of all, you encountered one of those parking lots which has a lot of issues if they have a person watching the vehicles.
Now as to other issues, a shared parking lot such as a strip mall will have tons of problems with parking and all that as some places think that they control the spaces right in front of their shops and others think that they own the whole place.
Now as to parking and going to different places in the lot then it becomes a human action fault if they can not tell where you are going, or watch where you went. But if they were paying attention to only you as you were walking around from shop to shop then how do they watch the other illegally parked vehicles where the owner really does go to someplace else.
I find it hard to believe their story if you were watched going to the restaurant first and then they noticed you and recognized you going from there to Starbucks.
Now mistakes do happen and it sounds like this is one.
Small claims court is always an option and it sounds like you have a lot of evidence - documentation which is good. Judges like evidence.
Now I seriously doubt that they will have pictures of you walking around in the lot and possibly leaving the property.
From what you described, they "ASSUMED" you were leaving and you know what Assumed really means.
Now as to the 10 mile rule, I am not familiar with that one in Florida, it might be a local law which is hard to find. I know that California has a law like that, and at times it is hard to enforce.
After all no one really wants a tow company in the area and zoning for them is a major problem most of the time.
It is up to you to decide if the effort is worth the time of small claims court and if you do, remember to go after everyone you can. After all the judge will rule on if they are a party or not.
