NOTE: This story is NOT about me, so don't try to read anything into it. I just found the story to be interesting.
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"John" was driving and his car broke down around 8:00pm. He was a AAA (auto club) member, so he called them to come check things out.
Someone representing a garage, which independently contracts with AAA, came out and assessed the problem with his car. In the process of doing so, the guy screwed up and damaged it further. The guy apologized to John and left, telling him to call AAA to have it towed.
John called AAA, but because it was now after 8:00pm, it was considered "after hours", and he was forwarded to a third-party company taking calls for AAA. This third-party company had a computer problem and it erroneously spit out that John's AAA card was expired. They also had no record that someone had just been there to look at John's car. They refused to send a tow truck for him.
John fought with them on the phone for hours, but got nowhere. He finally gave up and called a tow truck on his own. John was broke and could not pay for the tow on the spot. They refused to tow it to anywhere but their own lot, and dropped him off at home. John figured that he would simply call AAA in the morning, have them get the car out of the towing lot, fix it, and bring it back to him.
AAA refused to do this. While they admitted that his story might very well be true, they told him that it was his responsibility to have the car towed to his own house, and not to the towing lot. They refused to do a thing for him until he retrieved his own car, at his own cost, and got it back to his home. They also refused to pay for the tow itself, even though they acknowledged that there was a good chance that they erroneously had him listed as a non-member after hours.
John, who isn't good at handling these sorts of things, dug his heels in, and refused to pick up his car on principle. It has now been 30 days, and the towing company has been charging him a $50/day fee for storage. John now owes them $1500 for the storage (plus the cost of the tow), and it increases by $50 every day.
John is now going to sue AAA.
Let's say the case came up today and you were the judge.
Assume the following:
- John's story is 100% true.
- AAA admits that John's story is true, but still asserts that the tow and storage were his own choice, and they shouldn't be responsible.
- AAA has expressed a willingness to fix the damage to his car at their expense, and John believes they will, so this is not part of the case. It's about who is responsible for the towing/storage fees.
What would you rule?
Alvin Finklestein will give his opinion a little bit later.