Nebraska Private Lot Towing: Drop Right, 15-Day Notice, No Rate Cap

Nebraska splits the trigger for a private tow by city class. Section 60-2401 covers cities of the metropolitan class and the primary class that have not adopted an ordinance conforming to § 60-2401.01: there, a vehicle parked in a restricted parking lot without the consent of the owner or tenant is subject to being towed if the lot is properly posted. Section 60-2401.01 covers everywhere else in the state, and it goes further by making the parking itself an infraction. Under § 14-101 a city of the metropolitan class is one with 400,000 inhabitants or more by the most recent federal decennial census or revised certified count, and under § 15-101 a city of the primary class has more than 100,000 and fewer than 400,000, brackets that currently describe Omaha and Lincoln respectively. So the infraction penalty applies in Grand Island, Kearney, Fremont, Norfolk and the rest of the state, and in Omaha and Lincoln only where those cities have adopted a conforming ordinance.

Where § 60-2401.01 applies, the penalty is real. The offense is an infraction, and § 29-436 sets the schedule where no other penalty is specified: not more than one hundred dollars for a first offense, not less than one hundred and not more than three hundred dollars on a second conviction for the same infraction within a two-year period, and not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred dollars on a third or subsequent conviction within two years. A law enforcement officer who observes or is told of a violation must first determine whether one in fact occurred, and then personally serve or attach to the vehicle a citation under § 29-424 setting out the nature of the violation. Refusing to sign or otherwise comply with the citation is punished under § 29-426. If the operator cannot be identified, the registered owner is prima facie responsible.

The lot has to be posted before any of this works. Section 60-2402 requires signs designating a restricted parking lot to be readily visible and to state three things: the purpose or purposes for parking on the lot, the hours for restricted parking, and who to contact for information regarding a towed vehicle. A lot that omits the contact information or the hours is not properly posted, and both § 60-2401 and § 60-2401.01 condition the tow on proper posting.

The drop right is Nebraska's strongest single protection and sits in § 60-2407. The tower is not in full possession of a vehicle until it has been fully and completely attached to the towing vehicle, and upon request of the owner or driver the tower must disengage the towing apparatus at any time before that point. Nebraska attaches no fee to that release. Unlike states that authorize a capped drop charge, §§ 60-2401 to 60-2411 contain no drop fee provision at all, so a tower demanding cash to unhook a vehicle that is not yet fully attached is charging something the statute does not authorize.

On fees, § 60-2410(1) sets the standard rather than a number: the owner or other person lawfully entitled to possession is charged with the reasonable cost of towing and storage. That cost becomes a lien on the vehicle under Chapter 52, article 6, prior to all other claims except as provided in subsection (3), and the tower may hold the vehicle until the charges are paid or, after ninety days, dispose of it to satisfy the lien. Section 60-2404 states the same ninety-day clock from the tow date for a vehicle not claimed by its owner. Crucially, the last sentence of § 60-2410(1) provides that the lien does not apply to the contents of any vehicle, so a Nebraska tower has no lien over your laptop, tools, child seat or medication and cannot condition their release on payment.

The notice duty is specific. Under § 60-2410(2) the tower must, within fifteen business days after towing, notify any lienholder appearing on the certificate of title and the vehicle's owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, at their last known addresses. The notice must contain the make, model, color, year and vehicle identification number; the name, address and telephone number of the person who towed it; the date of towing; the daily storage fee and the storage fee accrued as of the date of the notice; and a statement that the vehicle is subject to lien and disposition by sale or other manner ninety days after the date of towing under Chapter 52, article 6. Separately, § 60-2403 requires the tower to report the license number to the local law enforcement agency within twenty-four hours, and if the vehicle is held more than twenty-nine days, to renotify on the thirtieth day and every thirty days after that so the agency can check whether it has been reported stolen or missing.

Two integrity rules round out the article. Section 60-2409 requires the tower to take reasonable steps to ascertain that the person ordering the tow really is the owner or tenant of the lot. Section 60-2411 prohibits that owner or tenant from soliciting or accepting a commission, gift, gratuity or any other form of compensation or wealth from the towing business, which removes the kickback incentive to patrol a lot aggressively.

Nebraska's remedies run against the tower and against the lot. Section 60-2405 covers the wrongful tow: an owner or tenant who causes a vehicle that is not improperly parked to be towed must cause its return to the owner or driver at no charge, and is liable for any reasonably foreseeable damage the owner or driver incurs from loss of transportation. Section 60-2406 assigns damage liability by phase: whoever tows is liable for reasonably foreseeable damage occurring during hookup, towing or disengagement, and whoever stores the vehicle is liable for reasonably foreseeable damage to the vehicle and to the personal contents inside during the storage period.

Section 60-2408 gives you the paperwork to build a claim, because on regaining possession the tower must hand you a written statement fully detailing the name and address of the person or persons who caused the tow, the statutory authority under which it was towed, and your rights under §§ 60-2401 to 60-2411. The sharpest sanction is in § 60-2410(3): if the tower fails to give the fifteen-business-day certified mail notice, its lien becomes subordinate to the lien of the titled lienholder and any disposition of the vehicle by the tower is void.

There is no state towing board or complaint hotline in this article, so a disputed charge or a damaged vehicle is pursued in county or district court, and the reasonableness of the fee is decided there.