Woman Sues Towing Company For Wrongly Seizing Her Car

CHICAGO (CBS) – A woman who says her car was towed illegally had to pay to get it back and is now  demanding her money back.

CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports.

It was a case of now you see it, now you don't for La Namee Webb. She has a sticker to park in the lot near Halsted and Grand.

Despite that, on Sept. 1, Lincoln Park Towing yanked her car after someone unauthorized to call for a tow called it in. Webb had to fork over $200 to get the vehicle back.

Business owner Nick Stavropoulos leases the lot and is the only one authorized to call a tow truck. Even his calls didn't help.

"`I said we need this car back. You guys illegally took this car. It has a sticker on it.  I want this car back now,'" Stavropoulos says.

The towing company refused, he says.

They say additional calls to Lincoln Towing for a refund went nowhere, so Webb sued.

"Not only just to get my money back but just to prove a point. I feel this could happen to anybody," she says.

Webb's lawyer Alex Arezina holds a list of dozens of violations and fines against Lincoln Towing over the past two years.

Lincoln Towing's attorney, Allen Perl, says Webb's case was a simple mistake.  The new towing contract for that lot, requiring a password to tow, was never filed.

Perl adds the company tows more than 25,000 cars a year. The dozens of complaints filed are only a small fraction of total business.

He says he offered to give Webb's attorney her money back, but that offer came after the lawsuit was filed.