'Absolutely sickening,' says driver whose van was towed, sold for scrap, & crushed – there was no issue until one call | JA43D35 | 2024-05-05 12:08:01
A DISABLED woman's specialized van with a wheelchair lift was towed and destroyed after being deemed abandoned. – she then sued.
Andrea Santiago, a Chicago, Illinois resident, sued the city, resulting in a multi-year legal saga that ended with little resolution for drivers in similar circumstances.
Santiago was bound to a wheelchair after being diagnosed with polio as a little girl, followed closely by a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Her van, a 1998 GMC Savana 1500, was fitted with a $10,000 hydraulic wheelchair lift and legally parked in front of the family's home.
They'd parked it there for years without any trouble – but the summer of 2018 changed everything for Santiago and her daughter, Lisandra Velez.
A month prior, someone called the city's 311 number and claimed the vehicle was abandoned.
Then, a worker with the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation claimed her van was abandoned, and placed a warning sticker on the windshield saying the vehicle would be towed if it wasn't moved.
"It was absolutely not abandoned," Velez told Chicago CBS affiliate WBBM-TV.
"She has ailments and doctors' appointments that we take her to; definitely not abandoned."
Her daughter, Velez, and her husband, Mike Reilly, removed the sticker and placed signs inside and outside the van to let people know the van was not abandoned.
"We scraped everything off the windows and put a sign up that said the vehicle is not abandoned," said Mike.
"We even left a phone number for my wife so they could call and we moved the van up one spot."
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> Their efforts were fruitless. The van was still towed a few days later.
Their neighbors all signed a petition claiming they've seen the van used regularly and that it was not abandoned, Google Earth images showed the van parked in the neighborhood since 2007, and the registration was current.
It also had up-to-date handicapped license plates and a placard for the rearview mirror.
And still, the van was towed.
"It's just very infuriating," said Santiago.
"The city to do that, with no regard to who that vehicle belonged to, is sickening. It's absolutely sickening."
Santiago's van was towed due to Chicago's strict abandoned vehicle policy, giving the city full discretion to remove a vehicle that had not moved or been used for more than seven days.
If the vehicle is towed and not redeemed within 18 days, then the vehicle is sold for scrap.
<!--googleoff: all--> <blockquote class="article__quote"> </blockquote> <!--googleon: all--> Her van was towed on June 13, 2018, and her daughter, Velez, attempted to retrieve the van from the impound lot on July 5.
She was turned away because she was not the van's registered owner, and was told she would need a notarized letter giving her permission to take the van.
When she returned later that month, Velez was informed the van was destroyed on July 16.
The family, alongside esteemed traffic lawyer Jacie Zolna, sued the city for wrongfully towing and destroying the van for failure to properly notify the family of imminent towing.
The city placed a sticker on the van, but the family never received a notice in the mail, which constitutes proper notification.
It was towed due to the citys abandoned vehicle policy, which can deem a vehicle abandoned if it hasnt moved for seven days[/caption]
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"Before the government can take your property, they have to give you notice and an opportunity to be heard — that is just the basic tenet of law," Zolna told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"Here they didn't do that; they literally took Ms. Santiago's car without any notice."
Initially, Zolna motioned for the city to pay for a replacement van that would cost around $25,000 – but the city refused.
CLASS ACTION TAKEN
In 2020, the case was moved by a federal judge as a class action lawsuit against the city, saying the abandoned vehicle program was loosely run without even police involvement.
"The city in some depositions admitted they don't use any other criteria other than seven days. Seven days, it's gone," Zolna told CBS News.
"So if you are on vacation, you take public transportation, and you just happen to live in the city and you walk and don't use a car every day – they can take your car."
The case quickly gained traction, as many more people claimed their vehicles were wrongfully towed.
A victory would cost the city millions.
<p class="article__content--intro"> Wrongfully or not, retrieving a towed vehicle can be a hassle. </p> </div> </div> "That most likely will be tens of thousands of vehicles," continued Zolna.
"We believe individual people that were harmed should get their value back of their car."
The City of Chicago's Law Department stated in response to the case being moved, denying any wrongdoing.
"The City respectfully disagrees with the judge's ruling and will continue to defend the case vigorously," the statement read.
"The case concerns unregistered vehicles with expired license plates that are abandoned on City streets. The City provides ample notice concerning the towing of these vehicles. Specifically, a notice sticker is placed on the vehicle before it is towed, and the City sends two notice letters in the mail after it is towed.
"The City believes that, in light of these three notices, an additional mailed notice is not required by law and adds expenses that would be footed by City taxpayers."
THE RULING
The case was finally resolved in 2022 when the City of Chicago denied many of the claims against its towing policy.
Court documents show that they denied their notifying Santiago was insufficient and therefore she lacked standing.
Velez, her daughter, removed the sticker and didn't tell Santiago that the sticker was placed on the van.
The City was also not required to replace her van, as the Courts found they acted within the law after sending two letters to the family with instructions on how to retrieve the van.
A HAPPY ENDING
However, CBS reported that a handicap-accessible van was donated to Santiago by George Kopulos, owner of Elmhurst Frame and Alignment after he heard what happened to her on the news.
The event happened only a few months after the initial story was published and the lawsuit was pending for the value of the van.
"I wanted to give it to somebody that needed it," he told the outlet.
He said he knew about the pending case – but he wanted to help her immediately.
"We felt really bad when we heard the story this is so terrible," said his wife, Donna.
A group of firefighters and a Dodge dealership donated maintenance for the van, gave it a proper detailing, and brand new tires.
More >> https://ift.tt/dTOCuqh Source: MAG NEWS
