Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
No doubt the rules are different in all sorts of places. They would only be responsible for willful neglect here when towing for illegal parking. That means if any damage is caused through pulling the car out of a space while using "normal" practices they are not responsible. Say they hook up too the proper points on the frame too pull the car and the chain slips and pulls off the bumper. They are not libel for that as it was not willful. If they took a hammer and smashed the window, wrapped the chain around the B pillar and pulled the car then they would be libel since it is now willful and not an accepted practice. Now, I need to be clear that these are the rules for towing illegally parked cars. For normal customer contracted towing they are indeed responsible no matter what and do carry insurance for any damage they cause.
I worked for a parking enforcement towing company for about two weeks when I got out of the Army. I couldn't do it anymore since they were shady as hell and I felt bad when they were scamming people instead of just doing the legit jobs.
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Did a little checking and they're responsible to exercise "due care to prevent foreseeable harm". With that in mind, being too fucking lazy to do something as simple as looking up the car's wheel drive before hooking up to it incorrectly is negligent to that. Why they hooked up (customer vs. towing infraction) makes no difference.
At least that's how it is here. The owner would still have to have documented proof of damage (mechanic inspection or similar) and the tow company's insurance would probably deny liability, leaving liability on the company itself. Then the company would probably try to deny liability and stonewall, hoping that the driver wouldn't know enough to take them to small claims court, where they would lose.