Car got towed yesterday .. would appreciate some insights

[kt1]

I'm not a lawyer but did take some courses of pre-law and also am a claims adjuster so I deal with lienholders and tow yards quite frequently.

Your argument of ownership and titling of the vehicle holds true and the tow company is in error. But in essence the police are not filing as stolen vehicle is because they abide by 'processes' in which this case is a matter between you, the tow company, and the lienholder. So the officer is correct in stating that this is a civil matter.

There are no immediate 'criminal' violations to the officer to act upon and the officer cannot arrest or issue citations if the he/she was not witness to it.

The lienholder, which has be dumbfounded, holds a portion of the value of the vehicle, therefore is rightly the owner of the vehicle, which does baffle me as to why it is not recorded with the California DMV nor did the title be filed as paperless title with the lien. Although there was a technicality mistake by having only your sister on the title, the contract that your sister signed with the lienholder and the documents proving the lienholding issuing out a portion of the vehicle's value during purchase super-cedes any titling. By California registration standards, yes your sister is the legal owner, but by California Civil Codes and other federal tax and financial laws, the bank AND your sister are technically the owners.

With that aside, your case can go either way, you did have 'pain and suffering' from the incident and you may file a tort case against the lienholder and/or tow company. (although the tow company is following repo tow orders from the lienholder and more than likely the judge will discredit the tow company from the suit). And the other way it may lead in court is that the lienholder may bring documents verifying lien and verifying their entitlements to the vehicle and the judge will deem the vehicle in rightful ownership of the lienholder.

I cannot offer any other conclusions because of the nature of courts and decision ultimately results upon the judge but I hope that somewhat helps.