Bobby's Towing, of Poughkeepsie, sued by Attorney General; see what suit claims
Ebonee Nash ran toward her friend’s car as she saw it being hooked up to a tow truck.
She said she had left the borrowed car in the loading zone of her South Hamilton Street apartment complex for six minutes to use the bathroom — a time, she said that was verified by the Ring camera on her front door.
But, when she reached the tow truck driver, Robert Scores, and pleaded for him to allow her to move the vehicle, Nash said she was greeted with obscenities. She said he pushed her, as he proceeded to tow the car away with her purse, coat and groceries inside.
He didn’t, Nash said, leave a card to let her know how to locate the car, but she found her way to Scores’ Bobby’s Towing and Recovery on Smith Street. There, she was charged above what the City of Poughkeepsie’s towing ordinances allow — rules that also call for a tow operator to wait 20 minutes before towing a vehicle — and, she said, multiple people, including Scores, explained to her how she would be able to be reimbursed if she claimed to her insurance company she had called for the tow due to car trouble.
“The towing of my (friend’s) vehicle from in front of my home was completely illegal, an affront to my dignity and a danger to my health and welfare,” she said of the incident in February 2021.
Nash’s account is detailed in an affidavit, one of 16 similar first-person accounts included in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Dutchess County Supreme Court by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Scores and his Poughkeepsie-based Bobby’s Towing and Recovery business.
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According to James, Scores operates a predatory business that repeatedly cheated and harassed hundreds of drivers in Poughkeepsie over the past decade. The suit seeks restitution and reimbursement for the drivers, and asks the court to stop Scores from operating until he obtains a $100,000 bond, which would fund that compensation.
“We are slamming the brakes on this unlawful and predatory behavior that hurt too many vulnerable New Yorkers,” James said in a statement announcing the suit Tuesday. “For too long, Bobby’s Towing bullied New Yorkers who depended on their cars to go to work, take their children to school, get groceries, and run errands. No one should have to pay hundreds of dollars to get their car back when they didn’t do anything wrong.”
Scores said Tuesday morning he had not seen the lawsuit yet and would not comment until he read it.
The business has gained infamy in Poughkeepsie in recent years. Previously, a resident brought a lawsuit against Scores and other parties following a dispute involving towing at the McDonald's on Main Street in Poughkeepsie. Scores has also clashed with the city over ordinances limiting how much tow operators can charge and how soon vehicles can be removed from property.
The lawsuit accuses Scores of illegally towing cars, overcharging for towing fees, falsifying tow tickets, and making racist and derogatory comments to vehicle owners.
Scores allegedly looked for cars to tow even if private property owners didn’t call for a car to be towed.
"This guy’s a terror," said Ryan Brooks, who lives at Manchester Gardens in the town of Poughkeepsie. "He terrorizes us."
According to the lawsuit, Bobby's Towing has towed Brooks' car twice from outside the apartment complex. Over the winter Scores tried to tow Brooks' car again, but Brooks said he drove it off Scores' truck to prevent the towing, according to the lawsuit.
Scores called the police and Brooks said he had to pay "basically blackmail money" to Scores so he could keep his car.
Seeing the lawsuit filed "felt good," Brooks said.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for those who were cheated, which claims Bobby’s Towing violated state business laws and the city's towing ordinance. James's Office estimates Scores would owe the 16 drivers who filed complaints with the office more than $6,200. The suit also includes a spreadsheet of nearly 100 incidents in which Scores "wrongfully obtained profits totaling" more than $36,600.
The Attorney General’s office said it opened an investigation after receiving multiple complaints, dating back to 2013. According to the suit, Scores has been operating since at least May 2004, dissolving or renaming his business multiple
What the suit claims
Scores, the Attorney General’s office asserts, “persistently engaged in deceptive and predatory business practices,” including allegedly:
Towing vehicles even when owners were on scene and willing to move their cars.
Towing cars that were temporarily idling.
Falsifying tow tickets with “untrue justifications for the tow and the cost.”
As in Nash's account, Scores allegedly told consumers to report tows to their insurance as roadside assistance for insurance reimbursement, which is illegal.
The Attorney General's Office said Scores often failed to properly hook up cars onto a towing truck, damaging the vehicles, and he repeatedly violated city ordinance by charging more than $85 for towing fees.
He’s also accused of failing to wait the 20-minute grace period before towing, overcharging for storage fees, and charging administrative and other fees that are barred.
Multiple car owners, according to the Attorney General’s office, said in affidavits Scores towed their car less than 10 minutes after they left it.
What the suit seeks
The lawsuit, which James said was filed in Dutchess County state court, seeks:
Relief preventing Scores from operating a tow truck business unless he gets a $100,000 bond.
Reimbursement for vehicle owners/operators for illegal or unjustified tows, with reimbursements to include any and all damages, such as lost wages, in the circumstance of an illegal tow.
Restitution for all consumers.
An end to all deceptive and predatory business practices.
Disgorgement of illegal profits obtained.
Penalties.
James encouraged anyone with a complaint against the towing business to to file online with her Poughkeepsie Regional Office or call 845-485-3900.
Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson, who represents Poughkeepsie, praised James' suit in her release. He noted his former position as an assistant attorney general running Poughkeepsie's consumer fraud office.
"The attorney general's actions will result in restitution to innocent consumers who should not have to waste days in court and lose wages to recoup their losses," Jacobson said.
Scores gained infamy roughly three years ago, after Poughkeepsie residents complained they had been towed illegally from the McDonald's parking lot on Main Street, a property that straddles the city and town of Poughkeepsie border.
One resident, Antonia Acevedo, launched a lawsuit regarding the fees and penalties she was charged which she said, by February 2020, totaled nearly $10,000. She received an injunction to reclaim her vehicle from the Bobby's Towing lot, but, she told the Journal at the time, she found the car in disrepair. One of the windows was broken and dead rodents, animal urine and mold were found inside, she said. Scores had filed a police report five months earlier, stating the car had been burglarized on his lot. It was immediately unclear Tuesday the status of that suit.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Staff writer Matt Spillane contributed to this report. Michael P. McKinney is a breaking-news reporter for the Poughkeepsie Journal, Journal News, tand the Times Herald-Record of Middletown.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Bobby's Towing in Poughkeepsie subject of Letitia James lawsuit
