In a frustrating cross-examination for prosecutors and lawyers
for fellow defendants, a man representing himself against dozens of
felonies stemming from a tow and sue scam was warned to back off
after arguing with a key witness.
In a frustrating cross-examination for prosecutors and lawyers for fellow defendants, a man representing himself against dozens of felonies stemming from a tow and sue scam was warned to back off after arguing with a key witness.
Vincent Cardinalli Sr., 66, acted as his own attorney on the first day of a four- to six-week preliminary hearing Monday on 169 counts of conspiracy, forgery, perjury, attempted grand theft and other felony charges. The charges stem from Cardinalli and his associates filing more than 2,000 small claims lawsuits in San Benito and Santa Clara counties, parlaying the defendants’ towing businesses into a gold mine, according to an investigation conducted by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Three other defendants, Paul Greer, 32 – formerly Vincent Cardinalli, Jr. – Greer’s sister, Rosemary Ball, and her husband, Michael Ball, face similar charges and appeared in court with separate defense attorneys.
Yet it was Cardinalli – bespectacled, in police custody, and now in a wheelchair with a long gray beard partially obscuring his face – that had the most outspoken defense. In particular, the judge had to warn him when cross-examining Greg Adler, an attorney for an auto auction company who spent hours detailing the alleged tow and sue scam Cardinalli ran.
“It sounds like you’re arguing with the witness rather then trying to ask a question,” Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown said to Cardinalli, directing him to rephrase his question.
Cardinalli visibly annoyed the witness and defense attorneys during his cross-examination of Adler. Defense attorneys for the other three defendants objected several times to Cardinalli’s statements.
“He’s a huge wild card,” said Eben Kurtzman, Greer’s defense attorney, after court had adjourned. “Any time you have someone who’s not an attorney asking questions, it makes it more interesting. Questions get asked that wouldn’t normally get asked otherwise. Some questions are great.
However, “I get nervous when questions get asked that I don’t already know the answer to,” Kurtzman added.
Adler’s testimony was a key part of the case for prosecutors, who brought boxes overflowing with evidence to the courtroom. Prosecutors first filed charges against the defendants nearly two years ago, but scheduling conflicts and legal issues with Cardinalli representing himself delayed the start of the preliminary hearing.
Adler described how Greer sued Copart – which he described as the “eBay of salvage cars” – three times in small claims court on liens Greer claimed to have had relating to the towing of vehicles sold by Copart at auction. Greer’s company claimed it had incurred a deficiency when his company sold the towed vehicles for less than the amount of the accrued towing and storage fees. However, Adler pointed out that Copart never received a notice of pending lien sale for any of the vehicles involved in Greer’s lawsuits, a requirement of lien sales written into the California Civil Code.
“It began to get really suspicious,” Adler said.
When Adler launched an investigation of his own, leaving his home in Vacaville at 4:30 a.m. several mornings during the spring and summer of 2006 to spend hours copying files at the San Martin and Hollister Courthouses, he turned up hundreds of similar lawsuits filed by Cardinalli and Greer. He started going down the list of defendants in similar small claims lawsuits brought by Cardinalli and Greer and “everybody told the same story” of not being notified, he said.
The court files contain letters from people sued by Cardinalli and Greer stating that they never owned the vehicles in question, and statements from former vehicle owners who said they hadn’t owned the towed vehicles in years, Adler said.
Other patterns that surfaced were the presence of a particular South County commissioner, Commissioner Gregory Saldivar, and a process server, Jeffrey Horan, in the cases. Greer’s and Cardinalli’s preference to have their cases heard by Saldivar, and no one else, set off “red flags,” Adler said.
Horan – who according to court documents said he delivered legal notices to people who were sued, but didn’t actually deliver them – admitted to his participation in the case and pleaded no contest to one count of conspiracy to cheat and defraud and six counts of perjury last June. His sentencing is being postponed until the rest of the case is resolved.
Adler said that in all but one of the court files he reviewed in cases that were initially presided over by Saldivar, then later appealed to the Superior Court by the small claims defendants, the higher court disagreed with Saldivar and ruled in favor of the defendants. Other judges and commissioners often ruled in favor of the defendants Greer and Cardinalli sued. Not so with Saldivar, who typically ruled in favor of the plaintiffs – Greer and Cardinalli – Adler pointed out.
Adler said he stopped in to watch the small claims court in action and was “disturbed” by what he observed.
Some defendants didn’t even have a driver’s license, let alone own the cars they were being sued over, Adler said. Yet Saldivar would instruct those people to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and obtain documents proving they never owned the vehicle in question. It is extremely difficult to prove a negative, Adler explained, and DMV generally will not give you documents pertaining to a car you never owned.
Still others were sued for cars they had sold up to seven years before the cars were towed. Typically, the mistake could be cleared up if an individual produces a Department of Motor Vehicles form releasing them of liability for the vehicle or otherwise demonstrates they sold the vehicle before it was towed. Yet, when defendants tried to fight back, the father and son duo often zeroed in on technicalities and advanced frivolous arguments to slam vehicle owners with fees and lawsuits, Adler testified. Although it’s not uncommon for tow companies to seek money they are owed, Cardinalli and Greer intentionally went after people who sold cars years before they were towed and people who never owned the cars at all.
“No matter what you said or did, it was never good enough,” Adler said. “The only person that wouldn’t go away was Mr. Greer.”
When asked whom a tow company can legitimately sue, Adler explained that the person liable for unpaid towing, storage and lien sale fees would be the party responsible for the vehicle at the time it was towed.
“You have to go after the person who caused the tow,” Adler said, adding that Cardinalli and Greer targeted people who had “nothing whatsoever to do with the car when it was towed.”
Greer referred all comment to his attorney.
