ASAP Towing SCRA Settlement: Deployed Submariner's Car Sold at Auction

What happened

On September 10, 2020 the United States sued ASAP Towing & Storage Company, a Florida corporation based in Jacksonville, in the Jacksonville Division of the Middle District of Florida, and DOJ announced a settlement the same day, subject to court approval. The complaint points out that Jacksonville has the third largest military population in the United States and is home to Naval Station Mayport, Naval Hospital Jacksonville and Naval Air Station Jacksonville.

The case began with a Navy lieutenant junior grade deployed aboard the submarine U.S.S. Florida from about February 26, 2018 to September 9, 2018. Before leaving he told the company managing his gated Jacksonville apartment complex that his 2005 PT Cruiser would stay parked in front of his unit. The car had a parking decal from the Goose Creek Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in South Carolina, a gold folder embossed with the submarine's name sat face up on the passenger seat, and his driver's license, showing his full name and date of birth, was in the glove compartment. ASAP towed the car on April 2, 2018 at the complex's request because it had a flat tire, and on about June 29, 2018 auctioned it with its contents, including tools and two compact discs made by his late stepfather, without a court order (complaint paragraphs 6 to 14).

ASAP's own written procedures told employees to look for military decals and to check the interior for signs of a military owner when a vehicle reached the impound. The complaint alleges ASAP failed to follow them or ignored what it found, that its procedures included neither a Defense Manpower Data Center search nor matching VINs to current owners through commercial databases, and that as a practice it did not seek court orders before enforcing storage liens. In the officer's separate state court suit, ASAP admitted through counsel that it sold his car without a court order but argued that requiring an order for every vehicle, "on the chance that the owner is a service member, is an unreasonable burden." The United States counted at least 33 protected servicemembers whose vehicles ASAP auctioned without court orders from January 30, 2013 to the filing (paragraphs 15 to 25 and 31 to 32).

The court's entry of the consent order came on October 15, 2020, for a five-year term, after which the case is to be dismissed. ASAP neither admitted nor denied the complaint's allegations (consent order paragraphs 4 and 28).

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3958

Enforcement of storage liens: read the statute , or read § 3958 in plain English, with its enforcement record .

This case began with a member of the U.S. Navy who returned home from an overseas deployment in service to his country, only to find that a towing company had auctioned off his sole means of transportation.

When servicemembers are deployed, and in harm’s way, fighting for our country, they should be able to find their personal vehicles where they left them when they return home.

Who was covered

Every person the United States identified whose vehicle ASAP sold, auctioned off or otherwise disposed of between January 30, 2013 and June 9, 2020, without first getting a court order, while in military service or within 90 days of it (consent order paragraph 12). The United States had 30 days to give ASAP that list along with each person's amount, and twelve months from entry to collect signed releases (paragraphs 12 and 13). The release form covers only Section 3958 claims, against ASAP and its related companies and their personnel (Exhibit C).

What the settlement paid

• For each servicemember on the list, the estimated trade-in value of the vehicle on the date ASAP sold or disposed of it, plus $500 (consent order paragraph 12).
• ASAP mails each check to counsel for the United States within 14 days after being told a release has been signed, and all of the checks together may not exceed $99,500 (paragraph 14). DOJ's release says ASAP must pay up to $99,500; DOJ's case page states the figure without that hedge.
• ASAP also owed a $20,000 civil penalty, due ten days after entry (paragraph 16).
• Before enforcing any vehicle storage lien, ASAP has to run the VIN through a commercially available public records database for the owners' names and Social Security numbers, or dates of birth if no number turns up, use those to query the DMDC, request ownership details from whoever asked for the tow, such as an apartment complex, and inspect the vehicle for decals, military plates, a registration with a military address or other evidence of service (paragraph 6). A waiver request must go out at least 30 days before enforcement on the order's Exhibit A form, under which sale proceeds go toward ASAP's sale and storage charges, the owner keeps the right to claim any surplus, and ASAP waives recovering its towing, storage, sale or disposal fees and costs from the owner (paragraph 6(f)).

Why this case matters

The complaint answers the usual excuses in two lines. There is no requirement that a servicemember tell the lienholder about military service, and the complaint calls Section 3958 a strict liability provision. ASAP's written procedures already told employees to look for decals and signs of a military owner, and this car had a military parking decal on the outside and a submarine's welcome aboard folder on the seat. The order's answer starts with the VIN, which every towed car carries, so a lot that never meets the owner can still find out whether that owner is serving.