Wyatts Towing, whose blue-and-white signs can be seen in myriad parking lots along the Front Range, has engaged in “blatant and serial violation” of the Colorado Towing Bill of Rights, according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed Friday.
The 19-page complaint, filed in Denver District Court, accuses Wyatts of routinely violating Colorado law by failing to provide vehicle owners with 24 hours’ notice before towing their cars, failing to post required signage in lots and failing to get permission from property owners preceding their tows.
“This complete disregard for the law and vehicle owners’ rights is deeply alarming,” said Hailey How, the plaintiff who was towed from a Denver apartment complex in July, in a complaint to the Public Utilities Commission. “Had I been adequately informed of the visitor parking policy or the towing consequences, I would have taken necessary precautions to avoid this distressing situation.”
How’s attorneys, which include state Rep. Steven Woodrow in his personal capacity, are seeking class-action status on behalf of thousands of other residents who may have been towed illegally by Wyatts. They’re requesting damages, a return of all fees paid to Wyatts and injunctive relief preventing the company’s “continued violations” of state statute.
“Indeed, the government’s failure to appropriately regulate Wyatts has encouraged Wyatts’ continued abuse of consumers and necessitated this lawsuit,” the attorneys wrote in the complaint.
Wyatts’ attorney, Jason Dunn, said the company has not been served with the complaint but that it “doesn’t seem to have any merit whatsoever.”
How contacted the Justice for the People Legal Center after her car was towed on July 28 from an assigned guest parking spot at Waterford Cherry Creek, a Denver apartment complex, she said in a news release.
The next morning, How paid $387 to retrieve her vehicle from Wyatts’ tow yard. She claims she never received the required 24-hour notice before being towed and that the lot did not have proper signage. How also says she was not provided with photographs justifying the tow.
House Bill 22-1314, dubbed the Towing Bill of Rights, added a bevy of new protections for Colorado vehicle owners, including the 24-hour notice rule, a prohibition on towing for expired tags and a requirement that property owners authorize tows instead of tow carriers.
But Wyatts, at least in How’s case, used a standing authorization agreement with the property owner or manager that they kept on file to substantiate the tow, according to the lawsuit.
The attorneys claim the towing giant has towed thousands of vehicles in violation of Colorado law and refused to return millions of dollars in illicit fees.
The lawsuit comes as Wyatts and its business practices have faced intense public, political and law enforcement scrutiny over the past year.
In August, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser took the unusual step of confirming an active investigation into Wyatts after a state senator was towed from a Denver lot. That probe remains ongoing.
Lawmakers and the attorney general’s office have accused Wyatts of implementing an illegal loan program that skirts the 2022 law. Wyatts CEO Trevor Forbes said his company never collected a cent of interest from these loans, though video and documents reviewed by The Denver Post appear to show otherwise.
Consumer advocates have also called attention to Wyatts’ vertical integration, an arrangement they say is ripe for abuse. Business records show the same people who own Wyatts also control stakes in a parking permitting business and a host of other tow carriers, auto dealers and auction houses.
In response, state Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat, is working with the Colorado towing trade group on a bill that would completely reimagine the state’s towing industry. In the proposal, private property owners — not consumers — would pay for cars to be towed off their lots.
The head of the Towing & Recovery Professionals of Colorado, John Connolly, estimates that 90% of tows would not occur if property owners had to pay for them.
Gov. Jared Polis’ office has also sought to distance itself from Wyatts’ operators.
Troy Porras, one of Wyatts’ owners, resigned in September from a governor-appointed judicial commission in metro Denver. In an email, obtained by The Post through an open records request, Porras said he was “disappointed that I feel like I have been given no other choice other than to resign.”
His resignation came just two months after Forbes stepped down from his role as the chair of the Towing Task Force, which makes recommendations to the Public Utilities Commission about maximum towing rates and nonconsensual tows.
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