A driver took Atlas Towing to court after an unauthorized tow in May. The driver won.
SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County Precinct 1 Judge Sylvia Ruiz issued a judgement Tuesday, ruling Atlas Towing must pay a couple nearly $260 for a tow that shouldn’t have happened in San Antonio.
Several other drivers are waiting for their day in court with Atlas Towing as well.
Ruby Gradillas and Colby Slate attended Post Malone’s “Big Ass Stadium Tour” at the Alamodome on May 7. When they got back to the lot where they parked, their vehicle was gone.
They weren’t the only ones who got towed.
KENS 5 later investigated and found out Atlas Towing didn’t have the property owner’s permission to tow from the lot. SAPD conducted its own investigation and ended up citing Atlas Towing for unauthorized tows.
Multiple drivers then filed to take Atlas Towing to tow court at a local justice of the peace to try and get their money back.
Ruiz presided over a tow hearing at Precinct 1 on Tuesday.
Gradillas and Slate said they had paid people who were pretending to be parking attendants on the lot, but those people turned out to be scammers. Once the scammers left, Atlas Towing then took the vehicles.
The man who owns the lot, however, said he never approved of the tow operations.
Attorney Olga Brown represented Atlas Towing via video at Tuesday’s hearing. Brown claimed Atlas had an agreement with a property management company to tow the vehicles, though that supposed agreement was from all the way back in 2016.
“Atlas Towing was no longer notified that we could no longer patrol and tow from that area,” Brown argued.
The current property owner, KEM Texas, LTD, was also at the hearing. A representative told the court he had no agreement with Atlas Towing at all and he never approved any of the tows.
Additionally, when the current owner found out about these tows and found signs on the property that featured Atlas’ number, he had the signs removed.
Ruiz then asked Brown multiple times to provide a copy of the 2016 agreement which supposedly authorized Atlas Towing to take the vehicles. Despite Brown’s claim that she possessed the document, she didn’t immediately provide it to the court for review.
Instead, Brown asked to delay the hearing.
“Your honor, I respectfully request additional time to prepare for the defense,” Brown said.
Ruiz pointed out that tow hearings are supposed to be handled quickly. People who are towed only have 14 days to file the hearing from the date of the incident. Instead, the judge refused to move the hearing to another date and again asked to see the Atlas’s document.
That didn’t happen.
Finally, Ruiz ruled in favor of Gradillas and Slate.
“Probable cause did not exist for the tow,” Ruiz concluded.
Ruiz later signed a judgement that awarded $259.57 to Gradillas and Slate. Ruiz also said this should not be happening to tourists in San Antonio.
“These are individuals who were hoping to have an enjoyable evening and ended up having a terrible experience,” Ruiz said. “We are a very hospitable city. We rely on tourism. For you to have an experience like that is embarrassing to us as a city.”