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Suing SFU parking service

fucksfuparking
edited November 2013 in General
what's the process of suing SFU parking Services?

Hypothetically, SFU impounded my car with wheel lock and ever since then,the check wheel light on the car display is on and few scratches were made on the car body near the wheel?Who should i sue?SFU?SFU parking department?or the SOB who did the job?

To think about it, SFU could be sneaky on this issue.They might say that suing them for negligence is not enforceable since they do not owe a duty of care to the car owner who parked there without packing permit, although it is foreseeable that impounding the wheel may cause damages . But then can i sue for intentional torts?say trespass to chattels?

Anyone who's a law master have comments?

After all, It is very unwise for SFU to impound the wheel as there are many expensive cars such as Ferrari or Aston Martin parking in the parking lot.The workers can't seem to afford the compensation to the damages for those cars' owners.

Comments

  • ezc
    edited November 2013
    Did you park without paying/owning a pass?
  • BestFarmvillerNA
    Are you talking about the parking lot in sfu surrey? because alot of assholes work there.

    I know some people who actually park at the plaza parking lot right by the bus loop in sc because of similar issues like yours.

    They take complaints up their asses, and im not sure about suing them.... give it a try, and let me know so that i can tell the other "victims" that i know about it.
  • fucksfuparking
    BestFarmvillerNA: I'm actually talking about Burnaby campus but i guess they are all alike each other...Thanks for being empathetic anyway!
  • fucksfuparking
    ezc: yes i parked without a parking permit, they has the authority to impound my car but they are not authorized to cause damages to the car right?
  • ezc
    edited November 2013
    What type of car do you have?

    My car was broken into a few months ago.  From my experiences with ICBC and the police, it's quite a hassle to get money for damages.  I doubt you would get any money from scratches, since you would have to give evidence that they actually did it.  A guy scratched up my car in a parking lot and there's really nothing I could do about it.

    As for the wheel light, you would probably need to get the car checked out.  It could be that it's just the sensor and there's no damage.  

    Next time just pay or park at the bottom of the hill & take the bus up.  You can try suing but I doubt you'd get anything, so it would just take up time and money.  If you paid for parking and they scratched up your car, I think you'd have something.
  • 112233
    The wheel light could just be on because the air is low. I agree with ezc, I think you're probably out of luck.
  • MXC
    So do you only get your car impounded for parking without a permit?
  • kyyd
    edited November 2013
    If you're actually serious about suing them you shouldn't be asking who to sue on a forum, you should be asking your lawyer. As for your question it's probably all three(I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice).
  • Flash
    You could file a small claims. Not sure if your evidence would help much. You could have the boot evidence, the fact that wheel has the sensor (must be a high end car having wheel sensors), the fact that the scratches happened around the wheel that had the booth, etc. I would think the judge would have reasons to believe it was the parking services who did the damage if you bring these. Get a mechanic diagnosis why the sensor is lit up, and see if he agrees it could be due to damage due to the boot being placed, etc.

    You could potentially get your money back from the diagnosis if this helps in the trial, etc. But it's a risk. You might not get anything. If you win, you will get all your costs back. As for who to sue, I would ask small claims, but I would think its SFU parking services yes, if they are the ones who place the boot. If they use an outside contractor to tow/boot, then it would be them

    Hope this helps a bit
  • fucksfuparking
    Thanks guys!good to know all these information.
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    What car do you have?

    Also UBC has free legal advice from law students and you can also get 30 minute consultations from Small Claims at the provincial court on Hornby/Howe like Flash said.
  • ezc
    edited December 2013
    "He who comes into equity must come with clean hands."

    What does this mean?  It means you can't come to court expecting justice from another party when you have done something wrong yourself.  

    You were parked illegally on private property.  I don't think you'd be able to get money for minor damage that could have possibly been caused (which you can't prove either way) by them removing your car, unless they were reckless or vandalized it.
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    ^Not completely true. You can be like that guy who got caught with weed in a DEA drug bust on a bunch of teenagers just having a party and then getting arrested and detained in a drunk tank for 4 days because they mistakenly forgot about him and he was cuffed the whole time and had to piss and shit in his own pants and drink his own piss off the floor to survive and went crazy and broke his glasses to use the glass shard to cut into his arms to write "sorry, mom." And then when found, his mom sued the cops and was awarded $4.1 million in damages. (which came from tax-payers who had to pay for the retardation of the DEA and correctional officers).

    So, this dude might be able to get maybe $4.1 (four dollars and ten cents) or something if he can prove the damages.
  • ezc
    edited December 2013
    The "clean hands" principle is used in common law, usually in cases involving contract law.  Since there are signs at SFU parking lots saying you have to pay to park, it's essentially a type of contract (i.e. "If you pay the fee, we will allow you to ...").  The situation you're describing seems to be more criminal in nature (in that "true" crimes were committed), which led them to get $ in a civil suit. 

    So if your parents are planning to leave you $1 million and you kill them to gain your inheritance early, you essentially break that "contract" (will) because you no longer have "clean hands."

    But, yeah, sucks when people like that get a big pay day for being stupid.
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    But in this case it just means he can't defend not having his car impounded/booted but he can still possibly be compensated for damages done to his car. Same applies to when people's tranny gets damaged when their car gets towed.
  • ezc
    Scratches you won't be compensated for because you can't prove they caused it.  Might have a shot if something's wrong with the wheel (i.e. not the sensor), but if it's sensor-related than it probably falls within a reasonable consequence of them having to move the car, which they would have a right to do.  I can't see a boot causing serious damage to a wheel and, even then, unless you can prove they towed the car improperly, I doubt you could get anything.

    This is really one of those cases where the OP is probably mad at himself for letting it get to this point.  Especially if it's an expensive car, which would make paying parking a pittance compared to maintenance costs.  We all do stuff like this from time to time, it's just one of those life lessons. 

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