Vehicle illegally towed

[Ann Marie Bitzer]

My car was illegally towed from mcdonalds in a shopping center in Santa Ana, ca.

I was at McDonald's located at 301 E. 1st street, Santa Ana and my car was towed not even an hour and a half later. Apparently a security guard for mcdonalds had it towed stating I was blocking a service door for deliveries. There were no signs posted on the door that said no parking or anything to do with service door for deliveries. There are signs posted at the entrance to the shopping center that say no public parking and Santa Ana club is the towing company for shopping center parking lot. The security guard from McDonald's had called night star towing ( of which he had a stack of business cards for). I later found out that the security guard from McDonald's is not authorized to have vehicles towed friend parking lot. There is another security guard is employed by the Property Management and has authorization to have vehicles owed from parking lot. There are also signs that say 2 hour customer parking.

I called the Santa Ana Police Department and they advised me that this is a civil matter and not predatory.

I need to know who I need to name in the lawsuit.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I need to know who I need to name in the lawsuit.

The owner of the franchise & the property management company.

 

[zddoodah]

I was at McDonald's located at 301 E. 1st street, Santa Ana and my car was towed not even an hour and a half later.

That's an awfully long time to be parked at a McDonald's, don'tcha think?

I need to know who I need to name in the lawsuit.

You're free to sue whomever you like, but I see no basis for suing anyone other than tow company, and it's not even clear from your post whether you have a basis for doing that. However, you have very little to lose by suing in small claims court.

 

[Zigner]

The owner of the franchise & the property management company.

...possibly.

But it sounds to me like a rogue security guard unilaterally authorized the purportedly illegal tow. McDonalds (et al) might not be responsible for the criminal acts of their employee in this case.

 

[mightymoose]

I need to know who I need to name in the lawsuit.

The tow company should be able to produce a document showing who authorized the tow. That person and/or their employer is who you pursue.
Before you do so you need to understand why the vehicle was towed. The same document from the tow company should indicate a section of the Vehicle Code that was violated and allows for the tow. Find that code and apply the circumstances of your parking to see if you have a reasonable argument.

Were you in a marked parking space in the parking lot? I would bet not if you were blocking the door. You describe a situation in which it should have been obvious you are not in a parking space.