A towing company with six cited violations is facing removal from Little Rock’s wrecker rotation list if the owner doesn’t appeal recent state-board sanctions, officials said.
The state Towing and Recovery Board ordered Lawhon’s Towing & Hauling Inc.of 10800 Sardis Road in Mabelvale to pay $11,500 in penalties and suspended the company’s license for 30 days. The board handed down the sanctions Nov. 19, and the towing company has a month from when Lawhon’s receives and signs the orders to appeal it.
The orders had not made it to the tow company last week, and Lawhon’s had not filed an appeal in Pulaski County Circuit Court so far this week. The payment and license suspension take effect after the suspension date if the company doesn’t appeal or after a failed appeal.
Kyle Mayton, an attorney at the McPherson Law Firm, which represents the tow company, declined to comment on the case.
The sanctions came after the Towing and Recovery Board investigators reviewed six complaints against the company, including overcharging and, in one case, towing before officers got to an accident site.
On Nov. 21, 2011, Little Rock officer Randy Brown was called to an accident on Sardis Road across the street from the towing company, only to find Lawhon’s already towed one of the cars, a Honda Civic, according to the board’s investigative file. Brown said the company “had no authority” to tow the car or clean up the accident debris before officers got there, as it “could have adversely affected his investigation,” the file states.
James Lawhon, one of the owners, told the investigators the car came to rest sideways, blocking all lanes, and that the driver was on the ground in a nearby field. Lawhon said he moved the car out of the way because of traffic and heavy rain and cleaned the accident debris to ease traffic, the file states.
“[Lawhon] said he was just trying to be helpful,” the file said.
On Dec. 7, 2012, a Freightliner tractor-trailer overturned, spilling 30,000 plastic, foldable crates onto an interstate, according to a separate file.
Lawhon told investigators he needed to use special equipment, more employees and more hours and gave a copy of the first bill - which he described as a “total invoice” - for recovery, labor, towing and freight handling, but not for storage.
When investigators asked for an invoice that included the storage, Lawhon said “he was not sure if he had one or where it might be,” the investigative supplement states. Lawhon also admitted to not having documentation showing how much he already had been paid or how he was paid.
The investigator showed Lawhon a copy of a Dec. 31, 2012, facsimile from Midway Insurance, showing a negotiated total of $21,631.05 - $20,000 of which was to be paid by overnight FedEx, and the rest paid by the salvage buyer when picking up the tractor-trailer.
Lawhon then said that total included the first bill and the tractor-trailer storage, but not storage for the cargo, which was to be paid at a later time. Lawhon told the investigator that he didn’t have invoices for the cargo storage, but “he may have been paid about $3,000.”
After further questioning, he grew “very defensive” and at one point said he wouldn’t hand over any invoices about the tow, the file said.
The investigator explained to Lawhon that he was obligated under state law to handover the necessary information, but Lawhon still refused.
After about two weeks, Lawhon turned over two invoices - one totaling $18,564.20 detailing costs for recovery, storage and handling of the freight and another with no total, later determined to be the negotiated sum, detailing fees for the tractor-trailer and partial fees for the freight, according to investigators.
The company “took advantage of the lack of communication” between the tractor-trailer’s trucking company and its insurance company and double-billed for services, as shown by the invoices, investigators said.
In a third complaint, the towing company overcharged a car owner on storage and administrative fees and wouldn’t release the car to the lien holder, even though it was “clearly listed” in a state database, according to investigators.
In an August tow, Lawhon’s employees told the driver they couldn’t haul the car to his home because he didn’t have enough cash on hand. After taking the car to the company’s lot, Lawhon’s purportedly charged more than “their own documented pricing structure,” the investigative file said.
In a separate tow, Lawhon’s didn’t try to find the registered owner or send notification to a tractor-trailer company based in California, investigators said. The tow company then charged excessive fees, including separate fees for hooking the truck to the tow even though the cost is included in the heavy wrecker hourly rate, investigators said.
In the sixth complaint, investigators concluded Lawhon’s again overcharged a Little Rock driver, saying the driver didn’t need to pay $195 each for towing and recovery, along with a fuel surcharge that is usually included in other fees.
The sanctions left some city officials calling for the company’s removal from the city’s wrecker rotation list. The city sends out requests for qualifications annually for towing companies, and those that meet the requirements are placed on the list.
Lawhon’s - along with Metro Towing & Recovery, Asher Wrecker Service and Routh Wrecker Service - holds a contract with Little Rock until Sept. 30. The contracted companies will receive tow and recovery fees for each tow performed at the city’s request, and 15 percent of the collected fees for those tows are given to the city, deputy city attorney Debra Weldon said.
City Director Brad Cazort said there are three main requirements for a towing company to contract with the city: that the company has the necessary equipment, that the company can respond at certain times and that the company is licensed.
“If they have in fact had their license suspended, then in my mind they haven’t met all three requirements,” Cazort said. “And I would think they would need to be removed for the balance of this year.”
At any time, if a tow company doesn’t meet a requirement, the city can remove or suspend it from the rotation, Weldon said. Unless immediate action is required, the tow company has five business days to explain to the Fleet Services director why the contract shouldn’t end. Once the director decides, the tow company has another five business days to appeal to the city manager.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 12/26/2013