Judge: Washougal towing company violated Consumer Protection Act

A Washougal towing company has been ordered to compensate three active-duty service members for illegally selling their vehicles at auction.

A Clark County Superior Court judge ruled earlier this month that Chuck’s Towing committed an unfair business practice and violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act by failing to have policies and procedures in place to comply with the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act (SRCA), which requires companies to obtain a court order before selling vehicles owned by active-duty service members at auction.

Chuck’s Towing will pay $13,087 to the three service members and $4,000 to the Washington State Office of the Attorney General for future SCRA actions, according to a news release, which states that the ruling also requires the company to implement specific policies to prevent similar occurrences from happening again.

“We have worked tirelessly with the attorney general’s office to make this right,” Val Wedin, co-owner of Chuck’s Towing, told The Columbian, the Post-Record’s sister publication. “We would never, ever do anything to harm any of our military.”

One of the cars belonged to Shawnee Gable, a Vashon Island, Washington, resident and a U.S. Coast Guard member.

“It’s disappointing that service members are being preyed on like this, and I know I’m not the first case,” Gable told KIRO-7 in Seattle. “But, hopefully, I’ll be one of the last once the word gets out there. … I definitely hope that all active-duty military members know about these SCRA laws because I didn’t know about it until we found a similar case (in Tacoma), and it was almost my case exactly. That’s how we found out about it, so it’s definitely not a commonly known law.”

The case is part of Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s ongoing Military & Veterans Initiative, which seeks to protect active-duty service members and veterans in Washington.

Ferguson is “working to reform Washington’s towing industry to ensure that tow companies comply with legal protections for active duty military,” according to the news release.

“We’re working to reform the towing industry so that it follows our laws protecting active duty service members from having their vehicles unlawfully sold at auction,” Ferguson stated in the news release. “Lawsuits are not my goal, but we will reform this industry one enforcement action at a time if necessary. My goal is to ensure that service members’ rights are protected.”

In February 2020, Gable filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office after her vehicle was sold at auction while she was stationed in Oregon, and still making car payments to USAA, a bank that works with military members.

Ferguson’s investigation discovered that Chuck’s Towing had auctioned two other vehicles belonging to service members that were totaled or inoperable, according to the news release.

Gable will receive $12,500, and the other service members — Nicholas Wilcox and Javon Bell — will receive $437 and $150, respectively.