Oregon’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday against one of the state’s largest towing operations.
The suit accuses Retriever Towing of violating an Oregon law passed in 2017. Specifically, the company is accused of towing vehicles from parking facilities without consent from the property owners.
The lawsuit alleges many of the victims are out hundreds of dollars or have lost their vehicles at auctions, due to illegal towing practices.
The Oregon Department of Justice has been investigating Retriever Towing since 2018. The state has received more than 250 complaints against the company.
The attorney general’s office is seeking victim restitution, plus civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.
By requiring signed authorization for a private property tow, a 2018 Oregon law prohibited the practice of towing cars for relatively minor parking violations (like back-in parking next to an apartment building) unless the property owner or its agent was willing to authorize the tow.