Bryan Morben
Bryan Morben assisted a client who had been living in an apartment for approximately three years when he suddenly became severely ill and was hospitalized. Prior to his illness, the client had parked his car in the apartment’s parking lot without incident and without the need for a parking permit. The car was always in working order, the property’s management knew the car belonged to the client and the client had moved the car whenever asked. After being released from the hospital, the client’s care team told him it was not safe for him to live alone and provided him with a letter to present to his landlord about terminating his lease early. In mid-September 2017, the client spoke to the building manager and explained that because of his illness and disability, he could no longer live alone and needed to move out prior to the end of his lease. The client said that he could be moved out by the end of October, and the manager approved the request to terminate the lease early. During this time, the client frequently attended medical appointments and lived with a friend at another location because it was unsafe for him to live alone. His vehicle remained parked in the apartment’s parking lot as usual. At the end of September—just two weeks after requesting the accommodation to terminate his lease early—the client received a letter from a towing company that they were in possession of his car and he would have to pay nearly $200 to get it out. When he asked the towing company why his car had been towed, they replied that the apartment management had it towed. The excuses from management were many; it was “a mistake,” but the management would pay for it to be returned (they did not and the storage charges continued to accrue); it had been “abandoned” or was “inoperable” (it was not); and finally, it was towed because he did not have a permit to park (it was not needed, had not been needed and was not written in the lease agreement). Eventually, the storage costs exceeded the value of the car, the client could not pay to have it released and it was scrapped. 9
