Towing Issues: towed while on vacation, leasing office, towing companies

Question
I live in an apartment complex in California. I went to the leasing office to inform them that I will be going on vacation for three weeks . They told me that they do not have a service that keeps track of which tenants would be on vacation.  When I came back from vacation I was told that my car was towed, since the complex had to clean the storm gutters.

I had to pay the towing company a significant amount of money, as my car was in there for more than three weeks. Had the complex informed me via email or cell phone (which they have), I could have easily arranged for the car to be moved.

Can I sue them? Is this legal? What can I do?

Answer
Well I have to say that it sounds like you really wanted the vehicle to be there and safe, with you telling them you would be out on vacation... Now if they do not take notes, or have some way to keep track of who is gone or on vacation then it is normal for more places.. In fact its very common for people on long vacations to be towed..

Now the fees you had to pay, I am sorry about them, but towing companies do not have ways to know who belongs to what cars and how long before someone comes to redeem it... I know it would be nice, but not practical... To much big brother issue there...

Maintenance issues regarding, paving, cleaning, or repainting tend to be a big problem which results in vehicles being towed...

Can you sue them, sure anyone can sue anyone for anything.. Will it work, and you win, who knows, its a gamble...   Sounds like them did everything that they should of,  but one thing to consider is that sometimes the company doing the maintenance has the authorization to have vehicles removed which are in the way of them working... The complex management at times has no control of this...