SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA — The U.S. Department of Justice sued a Southern California towing company on March 25, 2026. The charge: illegally auctioning vehicles belonging to active military members. The company kept doing it even after a military attorney warned them they were breaking federal law.
The Allegations
DOJ’s lawsuit targets S & K Towing, Inc. of San Clemente. The complaint alleges the company violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Between August 28, 2020, and April 15, 2025, S & K illegally sold or disposed of as many as 148 vehicles belonging to servicemembers. Many of those vehicles came from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. S & K held a towing contract with Camp Pendleton that required compliance with all applicable federal and state laws. The company ignored those requirements entirely.
Under the SCRA, towing companies must obtain a court order before selling or disposing of any vehicle belonging to a protected servicemember. S & K never sought those court orders.
‘We Do This All the Time’
In May 2024, a Military Legal Assistance attorney called S & K Towing and explained the company was breaking federal law. A manager responded: “We do this all the time.” S & K then continued selling and disposing of servicemembers’ vehicles — still without court orders. In some cases, the company auctioned vehicles registered to Camp Pendleton addresses. In others, S & K proceeded with auctions after staff explicitly told them the owner served in the military.
What Officials Said
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ Civil Rights Division called out the company directly. “Towing companies must respect and abide by the federal laws that protect members of our Armed Forces,” Dhillon said. “Servicemembers are often absent for extended periods due to training and deployments and may not know that their vehicle has been towed. The SCRA plays an important role in providing these servicemembers with adequate legal protections.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California added: “Servicemembers deserve peace of mind in knowing that their legal rights will be protected at home while they are away serving the United States. It is unacceptable for a business to sell or dispose of servicemembers’ vehicles without abiding by the laws that protect servicemembers.”
The DOJ Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California are handling the case. Since 2011, DOJ has secured more than $484 million in relief for over 149,000 servicemembers through SCRA enforcement.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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