GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	3 

SENATE BILL 220*
Judiciary I Committee Substitute Adopted 5/4/93
House Committee Substitute Favorable 7/22/93

Short Title:  Wrecker Service System.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:
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February 18, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF CRIME CONTROL AND PUBLIC SAFETY TO ESTABLISH A WRECKER SERVICE SYSTEM, TO CREATE A MISDEMEANOR OFFENSE RELATED TO TOWING SOLICITATIONS, AND TO MODIFY THE PROCEDURES FOR REMOVAL OF UNAUTHORIZED VEHICLES FROM PRIVATE PARKING LOTS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Chapter 20 of the General Statutes is amended by adding the following new section to read:
"§ 20-196.4.  Wrecker service system required.
(a)	Establishment. – The Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety shall establish a wrecker service system for utilizing qualified 24-hour wrecker services to remove or store vehicles from highways, roads, rights-of-way, or adjacent areas. The wrecker service system shall include rotation of wrecker services by the State Highway Patrol when a motorist does not express a preference for a particular wrecker service. The State Highway Patrol shall use the wrecker service system established by the Secretary for the removal or storage of any of the following:
(1)	A wrecked or disabled vehicle.
(2)	An abandoned or derelict vehicle.
(3)	A vehicle whose owner, operator, or person in apparent control is arrested, incapacitated, or authorizes procurement of a wrecker by the State Highway Patrol.
(b)	Standards. – The Secretary shall establish minimum wrecker service standards for safety, equipment, financial responsibility, experience, and reliability. As part of this system, the State Highway Patrol shall adopt a local plan for each district to implement as many of the rules as feasible based upon the needs of the district and the available resources. Any wrecker service included in the system shall be in substantial compliance with all applicable federal, State, and local laws.  Any wrecker service that applies and meets the minimum standards shall be qualified and utilized in the wrecker service system.
(c)	Deviation. – The State Highway Patrol may deviate from the wrecker service system and local plan and call the closest wrecker on the system when a member of the State Highway Patrol determines that public safety requires deviation from the system.  The State Highway Patrol may also deviate from the wrecker service system under any of the following situations:
(1)	No wrecker service on the system is available.
(2)	A municipal or county government has established a zone or other wrecker system, and the State Highway Patrol determines that use of the zone or other system is in the best interest of the public.
(3)	The owner, operator, or person in apparent control of the vehicle requests a specific wrecker service.
(d)	Removal. – The Secretary shall provide for removal of a wrecker service from the system for:
(1)	Failing to comply with the wrecker service system rules or district plan.
(2)	Arriving at the location of a vehicle described in subsection (a) of this section for the purpose of soliciting towing business and without being requested to provide wrecker service by the State Highway Patrol or a person acting on behalf of the owner of the vehicle.
(e)	Informal Settlement. – The Secretary shall establish an informal departmental procedure for reviewing any dispute concerning the wrecker service system.  This procedure shall provide for participation of wrecker services in the process.  Notwithstanding Chapter 150B of the General Statutes, the Secretary shall make the final decision on all such disputes, and there shall be no further appeals from the Secretary's decision.
(f)	Construction. – Nothing in this section shall be construed as creating a contract between the State Highway Patrol or its employees and the wrecker service, or between the State Highway Patrol or its employees and the owner, operator, or person in apparent control of any vehicle towed or stored.  Neither the Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety, the State Highway Patrol, nor any employee of those departments performing any act under this section shall be subject to monetary liability or shall be named as a defendant in any civil action between the wrecker service or its agents or employees and the owner, operator, or person in apparent control of any vehicle towed, stored, or subject to be towed or stored under this section.
(g)	Rules. – The Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety shall adopt rules to implement this section."
Sec. 2.  Chapter 20 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 20-196.5.  Certain towing solicitations prohibited.
(a)	Offense. – No operator of a wrecker or person acting on behalf of a wrecker service shall stop, park, or leave standing a vehicle on a highway right-of-way at any accident scene for the purpose of soliciting towing business unless previously contacted by a vehicle operator, a person acting on behalf of the operator, or by a law enforcement agency.
(b)	Applicability. – This section applies regardless of participation in a wrecker service system established under G.S. 20-196.4.
(c)	Classification. – A violation of this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), imprisonment not to exceed 30 days, or both."
Sec. 3.  G.S. 20-219.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-219.2.  Removal of unauthorized vehicles from private lots.
(a)	It shall be unlawful for any person other than the owner or lessee of a privately owned or leased parking space to park a vehicle in the private parking space without the express permission of the owner or lessee of the space. At the written request of the owner or lessee of a privately owned parking space, a vehicle parked in the space in violation of this section may be removed to a place of storage if all of the following conditions are met:
(1)	The private parking lot is clearly designated as such by a sign no smaller than 24 inches by 24 inches prominently displayed at the entrance of the lot and at one other location within the lot.
(2)	The signs can be easily read at all times, including night.
(3)	The signs contain the address and telephone number of the location of the place of storage to which any towed vehicle will be removed and the telephone number given is answered 24 hours a day.
(4)	The signs contain the name and the telephone number of the person who authorizes the towing of a vehicle from the lot.
(5)	The parking spaces within the lot are clearly marked by signs setting forth the name of each individual lessee or owner.
(6)	Unless the vehicle to be towed is violating a law, blocking the driveway or entrance to the business, or directly interfering with the operation of the business, the vehicle has been parked for at least one hour.
(7)	If the operator of the vehicle objects to its removal before it is towed from the premises, it is released at no cost.
If the conditions in the above subdivisions are met, then the registered owner of such motor vehicle shall become liable for removal and storage charges.  Payment of these charges may be made by check or valid, creditworthy credit card.
(a1)	The due process provisions of Article 7A of this Chapter shall apply.
(a2)	Any person who removes a vehicle pursuant to this section shall not be held liable for damages for the removal of the vehicle to the owner, lienholder or other person legally entitled to the possession of the vehicle removed; however, any person who intentionally or negligently damages a vehicle in the removal of such vehicle, or intentionally or negligently inflicts injury upon any person in the removal of such vehicle, may be held liable for damages.
(a3)	If any person removes a vehicle in violation of any of the conditions in subsection (a) of this section, then that person shall release the vehicle without the payment of any removal or storage charges and shall be liable to the owner of the vehicle for liquidated damages in the same amount as the removal and storage charges that were to be charged and for actual damages caused by the unlawful removal of the vehicle, whichever is more.
(b)	Any person violating any of the provisions of subsection (a), (a1), or (a2) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) in the discretion of the court.
(b1)	It shall be unlawful for any person who removes vehicles pursuant to this section to kick back, rebate, return, or in any other way pay to the owner or lessee of the property from which vehicles are removed any portion of the removal or storage charges.  A violation of this subsection shall be a misdemeanor.
(c)	This section shall apply only to the Counties of Craven, Dare, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, New Hanover, Orange, Robeson, Wake, and Wilson and to the Cities of Durham, Jacksonville, Charlotte, and Fayetteville."
Sec. 4.  This act becomes effective January 1, 1994.