Request By:
Sergeant Glenn H. Riggs
Kentucky State Police
415 Duell Drive
Versailles, Kentucky 40383
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Joe Johnson, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to this office dated July 7, 1983, you asked for an interpretation of KRS 189.725 regarding whether a third party can remove vehicles from private parking lots.
KRS 189.725 states as follows:
(1) Any owner or attendant of a privately owned parking lot may have removed from the lot any unauthorized vehicle parked and any person engaged to remove such vehicle shall have a lien on the vehicle in accordance with KRS 376.275.
(2) Every operator of a parking lot covered by the provisions of Subsection (1) shall post signs stating thereon that the parking lot is privately owned and unauthorized vehicles will be towed away at the owner's expense.
In our telephone conversations, you indicated that a local towing service had been granted discretion in removing vehicles parked in a private lot.
KRS 376.275 states as follows:
Any person engaged in the business of storing or towing motor vehicles, shall have a lien on the motor vehicle, for the reasonable or agreed charges for storing or towing the vehicle, as long as it remains in his possession. If after a period of sixty days the reasonable or agreed charges for storing or towing a motor vehicle have not been paid, the motor vehicle may be sold to pay the charges after the owner has been notified by registered letter of the time and place of the sale. This lien shall be subject to prior recorded liens.
We should state at the outset that KRS 376.275 regarding the lien on motor vehicles for storage or towing charges has serious constitutional problems insofar as it authorizes the nonjudicial sale of the vehicle. A copy of OAG 81-359 is enclosed for your convenience.
KRS 189.725 explicitly gives discretion to the owner or attendant of a privately owned parking lot to remove any unauthorized vehicles. The statute does not give such statutorily designated person the authority to delegate this discretion to any third party such as a towing service. Under the statutory construction doctrine of expressio unius est exclusio alterius, Bloemer v. Turner, 281 Ky. 832, 137 S.W.2d 387 (1940).
In conclusion, as we read the statute, only the owner or attendant of the privately owned lot has the authority to order the removal of an unauthorized vehicle. The statute neither gives carte blanche authority to a towing service to remove vehicles at its discretion nor does the statute give the owner or attendant the authority to delegate this discretion to a third party.
If we can be of additional assistance, please let us know.