Towing Issues: an illegal tow?, dmv ca, gov pubs

Question
I own a Kenworth t-800 and had it parked on a piece of property that was leased out to the person that gave me permission to park my truck there, I also was contracted with him to pull his trailer.

I was called one afternoon by the man I had permission from to park on his leased property asking me where I had moved my truck to?
I told him I hadn't.

after looking around Sacramento and calling different tow companys I found my truck and it costed me over $600.00 to get it back.

after all this I'm wondering if the tow was illegal because no one called me before hand and I was told by someone that they had to contact me by phone or mail 72 hours before towing a truck or car here.

Is ther any truth to any of this I went to court and got a judgement against the man that towed it--he was another leasor on the same 100 acre parcel--(different truck companys on same large parcel broken up into 3-5 acre parecels) and had zero business doing what he did and now he is appealing and I"m hoping you can let me know what is what . Thanks Tom Stephens

Answer
WOW  sounds like a small business fued is happening there.

OK,  vehicles towed from private property, (that is what you were on) is done when someone who has control (property owner/ manager / lessee) authorizes a vehicle to be removed in writing to the towing company. That is usually done by signing on the tow ticket or an authorization form.

Now Since you went to court and got a judgement, that means that someone else thinks it was wrong. That is good for you.

Collecting the judgement might be hard. But that is also the legal system we have.

Now, as to the comments on having to phone you or send a letter.  That usually refers to tows ordered by the police department for abandoned vehicles.  

Since you are in california here is a link to read about that and leins.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/reg_hdbk_pdf/ch22.pdf

To give you an example of that on private property to understand the ability of immediate tows,  someone parks their car in your driveway right against your garage door making it where you can not get out.  you would want it out of the way now, not 3 or more days from now.

good luck with this, and I hope that you get your money.