Legal Question in Personal Injury in Massachusetts

Re: Car was damaged during Towing

You should have the car looked at by someone who will give evidence for you. This person must have the background, training and experience to say I know what car damage from towing would look like and I looked at the car and this car had tow damage. Get this in writing While you could give your observations you are biased. Communicate with the tow people in writing only. Most cases settle. Never, never say its not about the money. If you want the 100% result look to court. There are time deadlines.

Charles W. Cobb

Re: Car was damaged during Towing

Get underneath the car and look to see if the muffler was damaged by "trauma" (impact, something hitting it); you should see a dent. Take a picture. Do this soon.

Next, have a lawyer write a "93A letter" for you. (What's the name of the company? I could have a conflict of interest myself.) Don't call the tow company to discuss it at all.

They'll have 30 days (as the letter will explain) to make you a reasonable offer of settlement or else under the law they will have to pay double or treble the damages that you are found to have suffered, plus your attorney's fees. The idea of the law is to motivate merchants to make the effort to settle with consumers.

Is it worth it? That's more of an emotional question. Small claims (limited to $2,000 of actual damages awarded) is rarely worthwhile on a purely financial basis, but failure to bother with it might eat at you.

Start with having a lawyer write a letter -- less effort, usually pays for itself. You seem literate and perhaps you can write the letter yourself if you research how to do so, though it'd be better to at least get advice (or review) by an attorney -- and there are other advantages to having an an attorney involved.

I figured that someone would have written lots of advice on how to write a 93A letter, but I couldn't find it on the web. looked at Yahoo for references to our 93A law ("93A and Mass." for example), and while I didn't see anything explaining what's required or giving good advice on how, I did find these links and you can look further for yourself:

http://www.socialaw.com/sjcslip/7954.html - a judge's opinion on a particular case.

http://www.bwglaw.com/93a.htm -- an insurance company's article on the subject; not very prescriptive for you but pretty good info;

and of course, the statute itself:

M.G.L. - Chapter 93A - Table of Contents

http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/legis/laws/mgl/gl-93A-toc.htm

There's a sample letter at

http://philip.greenspun.com/politics/litigation/smyly/demand-letter.text though I haven't read it to see if it's correct, and there's a 93A letter form also on http://www.neighborhoodlaw.org/tenants.htm (but I didn't read that one either).

An experienced lawyer or law firm should be able to give advice on the practical aspects of what should or shouldn't be said in such a letter, but will want to be hired. If you hire an attorney, you're in a better position to use regular district court instead of small claims procedure, which has several advantages.

If you go to small claims, one thing is guaranteed: you will spend time during the day at the courthouse, probably much of it waiting around.

Car was damaged during Towing

Massachusetts has a statute that allows towing from private property under very

limited circumstances. You should call the Boston police and find out if the tow was

authorized. You can find the Boston tow line in the phone book. Ask who

authorized the tow from the owner of the property. I bet that it was not authorized

by the property owner but by the tow company. You should also find out if the tow

request was in writing. Then you can talk to a local attorney.

I have other information I can give you about this situation but I don't want to do it

in a public forum. I suggest that you contact me directly.Massachusetts has a statute that allows towing from private property under very

limited circumstances. You should call the Boston police and find out if the tow was

authorized. You can find the Boston tow line in the phone book. Ask who

authorized the tow from the owner of the property. I bet that it was not authorized

by the property owner but by the tow company. You should also find out if the tow

request was in writing. Then you can talk to a local attorney.

I have other information I can give you about this situation but I don't want to do it

in a public forum. I suggest that you contact me directly.