Lawsuit claims vehicles wrongfully towed under Louisville program to get abandoned cars off streets

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A towing company contracted by the city of Louisville to get abandoned and junked cars off its streets is illegally towing vehicles that people use every day, a lawsuit filed Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court alleges.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Sam Aguiar on behalf of three Louisville residents, claims Suburban Towing, Inc. "routinely" tows and impounds vehicles that are "lawfully parked and which are fully operative" and has "profited immensely as a result of its misconduct." It also alleges members of Louisville Metro Police's Vehicle Impoundment Unit instruct Suburban to tow vehicles that do not fall within the scope the company's contract with the city.

A Suburan representative said Tuesday that the company had just received the lawsuit and declined to comment.

All three plaintiffs claim the company "substantially damaged" their vehicles and charged rates exceeding amounts outlined in a city ordinance.

Sean Stanford is not one of the plaintiffs but said something similar happened to him.

"Got a ticket on our car for expired tags," he said. "Fine, no problem. It said we had seven days to respond and then up to eight more days to respond and then they'll tow the car."

The day after he got that ticket, though, he said his car was towed.

A truck with Suburban Towing, Inc. in Louisville, Ky.

Josh Cundiff almost had his car towed recently.

"Insured tags are fine. Everything is perfectly normal," he said. "It's parked on a spot on the street where there aren't any 'Do not park here' or time signs."

The reason Cundiff said he was given: "It sat too long."

"Towing cars directly out in front of people's houses? With no warning? Even junk cars, I think they put the little slip on and give you seven days to respond," Cundiff said. "This was no time."

The lawsuit seeks financial compensation for the plaintiffs and names as defendants Suburan and two members of LMPD's Vehicle Impoundment Unit: Ron Glynn and Richard Isham. It alleges Glynn and Isham "routinely deem vehicles 'abandoned' and have Suburban tow vehicles to Suburban lots without first affixing any notice of violations to the vehicles, let alone confirming that the vehicle was parked for three consecutive days on a public way."

ABANDONED VEHICLES IN LOUISVILLE 11-16-2020 1 — An abandoned vehicle in Louisville. (Source: Bill Hollander)

Broken down and abandoned cars have long been a problem in Louisville. By October 2020, there were more than 5,000 scatted throughout the city, according to a newsletter from Metro Council President David James. For years, however, there was nowhere to put the cars.

With Louisville Metro Police's tow lot full, the city in 2020 contracted Suburan to haul abandoned and junked vehicles to its property off Fern Valley Road.

In the lawsuit, Aguiar claims "a substantial number" of the roughly 30-70 vehicles Suburban tows per day "at the request and direction of Metro employees" do not fall within the company's contract with the city. The attorney argues that the city's "lingering abandoned vehicle accumulation" can be attributed to Suburban towing "vehicles which will result in immediate revenue, rather than those truly warranting a tow."

"Simply put, towing vehicles which are in suitable condition is a win-win for Metro and Suburban: they are more likely to be recovered, resulting in a nice recovery payment from Metro," the lawsuit says. "Those that do not get recovered become the property of Metro, resulting in a vehicle which it may assign to a government employee for whom a vehicle may have otherwise had to be purchased."

The claims made in a lawsuit represent only one side of a case. Read the suit in full below:

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