NC AG sues Charlotte towing company’s owner again — this time for alleged discrimination

Two Charlotte towing companies and their owner are at the center of a lawsuit that alleges the businesses targeted Black drivers and engaged in price gouging during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Attorney General Josh Stein filed the lawsuit against A-1 Towing Solutions, Automobile Recovery and Parking Enforcement and their owner, David Jewel Satterfield, in Wake County Superior Court on Dec. 12. It’s the second case of its kind Stein has brought against Satterfield. The new suit alleges the companies were involved in “predatory and discriminatory conduct” against Black truck drivers and forced them to pay exorbitant fees to reclaim vehicles after being impounded or booted.

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, restitution, civil penalties, attorney fees and investigative costs.

“This defendant hasn’t just been breaking the law and harming North Carolinians – he’s done so by purposefully targeting Black people,” Stein said in a statement. “It’s both wrong and illegal, and I’m asking the court to stop him from engaging in this predatory and discriminatory conduct and give full financial relief to his victims.”

Stein previously sued A-1 Towing Solutions, Inc. and Satterfield in 2020, accusing the company of price gouging as the company booted and towed trucks transporting supplies during the early stages of the pandemic without warning. Automobile Recovery and Parking Enforcement is named in the new suit. It’s a business that Satterfield also owns and sits at the same address as the now-dissolved A-1 Towing Solutions in Charlotte.

Neither A-1 Towing Solutions nor Satterfield could be reached by phone for comment. A number listed for the business was disconnected.

Truck drivers detail ordeal with tow company

Dimetrius Wingo, working as a driver delivering water in March 2020, said in an affidavit included with the suit that A-1 Towing Solutions towed his truck after it was parked overnight at a Charlotte Home Depot on Albemarle Road despite no visible signage present indicating doing so was prohibited.

Wingo ended up paying $4,200 in impound fees to retrieve the vehicle, which he suggested later compromised the ability to run his own trucking business.

“It has been difficult to keep my trucking company going during the pandemic after being forced to pay,” he said in the affidavit.

This lawsuit alleged the company forced truckers to pay as much as $4,400 after booting or towing their vehicles. The suit also accused A-1 Towing Solutions of illegal towing practices, such as “double booting” a truck and trailer to increase the removal fee and threatening to increase costs for releasing the trucks unless the drivers paid immediately. Double booting is a practice where more than one restraint is used on a vehicle.

Another Black truck driver, LaJuan Monroe, alleged in an affidavit accompanying the lawsuit that the tow company removed his truck from a business even though he received permission to leave the vehicle there. Monroe said the truck being impounded “delayed a delivery of meat to New York.”

‘Reverse redlining’ accused

In the initial lawsuit price-gouging lawsuit, Stein said, “The defendants were targeting African Americans with the brunt of their unlawful price gouging, unlawful towing and booting, and unlawful debt collection.”

Of the 14 complaints the state received against Satterfield’s towing business, Stein said about 11 of them were submitted by Black drivers.

An investigation by the North Carolina Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Division and the department’s Civil Rights Unit determined that Satterfield was using a process called “reverse redlining” to target African-Americans, the suit alleges.

It is a practice where minority communities receive unfavorable treatment by businesses. The lawsuit alleges the towing company mainly concentrated its work in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

While Black residents make up 34.7% of the city’s population, according to the most recent U.S. Census data, about 72% of the vehicles A-1 Solutions towed in Charlotte from 2020 to 2022 were owned by Black drivers, a state DOJ analysis found.

Business owner has Charlotte criminal history

Before the most recent lawsuit against Satterfield and his towing business, a Wake County judge placed a temporary restraining order against him that’s since expired for engaging in “unfair and deceptive practices” for price gouging. The order restricted Satterfield from being able to tow vehicles or conduct official business.

Mecklenburg County jail and state records show that Satterfield has a lengthy criminal history that includes arrests this year for breaking and entering vehicles, larceny of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon as well as past convictions for burglary, DWI and assault.

A-1 Towing Solutions has since dissolved as a February for failing to file an annual report, according to a North Carolina Secretary of State filing. Satterfield’s other business, Automobile Recovery and Parking Enforcement Inc. is still an active company, according to the N.C. Secretary of State’s Office.