Xtra depth on the settlement reached between the U.S. Government and United Road Towing Incorporated
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The U.S. Government is expected to settle with the EL Paso towing company accused of illegal auctioning, selling, or disposing of cars belonging to deployed Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protected servicemembers from Fort Bliss.
In 2023, the U.S. Government filed a lawsuit against the City of El Paso, United Road Towing Incorporated, and Rod Robertson Enterprises Incorporated, alleging they violated the law by towing and selling servicemembers' vehicles from May 2019 to June 2023.
According to court documents, the U.S. has identified 50 servicemembers protected by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Previously, 176 servicemember vehicles were identified. You can find ABC-7's previous article on this story from last year here.
On May 7th, 2023 the federal government and United Road Towing (URT) reached an agreement. Here are some of the conditions outlined below:
- United Road Towing is expected to check if vehicles do not belong to servicemembers before selling them.
- URT will send the government policies and procedures for vehicle sales, which includes verifying whether the vehicle that was auctioned or sold belonged to a SCRA protected servicemember.
- URT is expected to provide SCRA policy training to all of its employees.
- URT will deposit $57,935 into an interest-bearing escrow account to compensate servicemembers.
- The U.S. Government will provide URT with a final list of affected servicemembers within 8 months of the effective consent order date.
- Money remaining in the settlement fund will be paid to the U.S. Treasury.
In October 2023, the City of El Paso filed a lawsuit against URT and Rob Robertson Enterprises, claiming the city did nothing wrong as per the contract with the parties and is seeking relief from them.
The City is expected to receive an update on this suit on Monday, May 20th, during executive session.
