Towing dispute could cost insurance company over $50k

Feb. 17--A year-long dispute over storage fees for a stolen vehicle totaled in a crash could end up costing an insurance company more than $50,000.

Boots & Hanks Towing in Scranton contends Erie Insurance Exchange owes the hefty fees for failing to retrieve a 2014 Nissan 370Z that's been stored on its property since Feb. 11, 2018. Erie balked at the cost, insisting it owes only a fraction of that amount.

The two sides have been at loggerheads since February 2019, when Erie first sought to retrieve the vehicle and was advised it owed more than $24,000 in storage fees. It refused to pay and the fees continued to rack up at $70 a day since then.

The dispute centers on the reasonableness of the fees and a disagreement over whether Erie is a crime victim, which would exempt it from paying any storage fees under a city ordinance.

Erie also contends it's being unfairly penalized because neither Scranton police nor Boots & Hanks notified it that an impound order that prevented the car from being moved was lifted on March 7, 2018. Erie did not learn it could retrieve the car until Feb. 14, 2019,when an insurance adjuster checked on its status.

Lackawanna County Judge James Gibbons sided with Boots & Hanks in August. In his ruling, Gibbons chided both parties for failing to communicate. Ultimately, he said, Erie was responsible to keep track of the vehicle.

"Simply put, Erie fell asleep at the wheel," Gibbons said. "The reason Erie did not learn anything about the vehicle until Feb. 14, 2019, was that Erie did not inquire about the vehicle until Feb. 14, 2019."

In a second order issued in November, Gibbons rejected Erie's claim it was exempt from the fees as a crime victim. He said the law only treats insurers as a victim relating to matters of restitution for injuries to a person or property.

"This is not a restitution issue; Erie is not, then, a victim," Gibbons said.

Gibbons did not decide how much Boots & Hanks was owed. He urged both sides to work out a compromise.

In court records, Erie says it offered $12,500, but Boots & Hanks is demanding $39,130 as of Sept. 6. The company recently filed a petition seeking to hold Erie in contempt of court for failing to abide by Gibbons' ruling. A hearing on the matter is set for March 5. In the meantime, storage fees continue to mount and will reach $51,120 by the hearing date.

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter.

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