Towing Issues: Car towed, transmission ruined during process, small claims court, parking sticker

Question
My 2002 Ford Focus (automatic) was towed from my gated apartment complex.  The security company that is hired by the complex authorized the tow even though I had a parking sticker in the car.  The argument is that they couldn't see the numbers on the sticker.  The tow company has told me they believe they did everything correctly during the tow.  However, when we picked up the car from the towing yard it would not go into reverse and slipped in 3rd/4th gear.  After taking my car straight from the towing yard to a mechanic I was informed that the transmission is completely ruined and it is obvious from the damage that it was from the towing.  The expense to fix it will be around $2600.

If I have to go to court to recover the money, who  should be sued?  The apartment complex says they are indemnified because we signed a piece of paper  that says as much (we had to sign or else they would not issue us the sticker).  However, they are the ones who hired the security company and therefore the towing company.  Also, what would be good to have or know before going into this situation in small claims court in California.

Answer
Well in the absence of knowing exactly how the vehicle was towed and with what kind of truck you might have a problem.

Rollbacks can damage vehicles just as much as a regular tow truck can ... But it does not happen all the time. But like anything else accidents do happen.

Its really hard to say if they the towing company did damage the transmission.  Usually there are a few signs that were there first. But it can be something they did .

I would talk to the towing company again..  Mechanics do sometimes know what happened and sometimes their are guessing .

As to court, well small claims court is the way to go. If the vehicle was actually parked legally and they did a illegal tow, then the people (agency ) which authorized the tow should be named.  But in todays sue happy lifes, lots of cases are done by the " deep pockets theory" That means listing everyone involved and see what comes out in Court.

Sorry I can not really provide a good answer on the damage, but I would take it to a few places if I could and get a few differant thoughts. (Best if you do not give any answers about it being towed. see if they pick it up as a cause )

Hope this helps