QuestionThis happened in Jefferson County, CO. I was at work today when I got a call from my friend to run to his condo complex quickly and move his vehicle for him because it was going to be towed (to make a long story short, we each have a spare key for the other's vehicle in case of emergency). I get to his neighborhood and I see at least 5 tow trucks with 2 to 3 vehicles attached to each one. I find my friend's vehicle and move it to the spot he told me. I decided to stick around and try to find out what was going on.
I asked one of the residents what was going on, and they said the HOA set this date for repainting the parking lot. The resident said the HOA didn't post adequate notices (I didn't see any) and no one knew. An HOA person was nearby and said they posted a notice in the mail room the night before and there was no excuse for people parking in the designated areas. They towed at least 50 cars, according to some of the people there. Thankfully I was able to get to my friend's car before the towing company got to it.
Did the HOA overstep their bounds by towing so many vehicles at once? Do you think that if the residents brought legal action against the HOA that they'll get the towing fees refunded? I don't understand why the HOA didn't just reschedule the painting and post better notices instead of taking drastic measures and tow so many vehicles. Maybe you can shed some light on this situation for me and all those that had their vehicle towed.
AnswerWell I have to say that at least you got out lucky without being towed...
Now it does get a bit rough answering these questions here, especially with Colorado questions... I know that the State Public Utility Commission does regulate towing and all that, but the few references to laws tend to leave a lot open as to what is required...
For example if I read it right, a tow company from Denver can do impounds in Vail and take them back to Denver... Things like that, but again I am not actually in Colorado and so I can not "one on one" with the rulemaker's or even tow companies in the area..
Now as to the notices, it sounds like the complex did try to notify everyone, and the mail room is a good place to start, but it most likely would not hold up in court. Door to Door would be better, as it is more personal and targeted in notification.
Generally 24 hours is needed before vehicles are towed, but then "emergency Maintenance" would be different than scheduled maintenance. Sounds like management dropped the ball on this part.
Now as to court, well it all depends on how you present the evidence to the small claims court, as to if you would win or not.
And if there were 50 vehicles towed, the judge might just decide that something was wrong. Never know on that part...
As to regulations regarding the towing from private property, this link below gets into the PUC section...
http://www.dora.state.co.us/PUC/trans/TransRules.htm
Go to the Transportation by motor carrier section, and run down the page to Towing regulations in section 6500 (its a pdf file so it does not link directly)
There you can read some of the rules which apply and see if they did this right. But I also want to say that Jefferson County might have more rules on a local level which I do not know about, or even some Cities have additional rules which apply. It gets confusing at times with all the layers of rules...
Good luck and I hope this helps you (and others) understand what happened and was supposed to happen.
