A Hollister judge has allowed two former tow truck operators to
continue filing small claims lawsuits, even after the father and
son were dubbed
”
vexatious litigants
”
in civil court and arrested for allegedly abusing the court
system.
BY Serdar Tumgoren and Michael Van Cassell Staff Writers
Gilroy – A Hollister judge has allowed two former tow truck operators to continue filing small claims lawsuits, even after the father and son were dubbed “vexatious litigants” in civil court and arrested for allegedly abusing the court system.
Since August, San Benito County Superior Court Judge Harry Tobias has instructed court clerks to accept six small claims suits filed by Vincent Cardinalli Sr., 64, and his son Paul Stephen Greer, 30. Under court rulings issued earlier this year in Santa Clara County, Cardinalli and Greer must obtain court approval before filing new cases to collect on allegedly unpaid towing and storage fees.
Watsonville resident Maria Carranza was shocked to learn last week that Greer sued her husband in August for $2,500. When she went to Greer’s Hollister tow yard three years ago, an employee of B&C Towing assured her that she did not need to worry about disposing of a 1991 Lincoln Town car that was stolen, burned and abandoned in 2004, said Carranza, who only speaks Spanish and had her comments translated by her niece Leticia Valdivia.
“They told me not to worry about it, that insurance was going to cover everything and that I should just sign all the papers,” she said.
The release of liability that Carranza signed – and which Greer submitted as evidence in the case against her husband – includes a clause obligating her to pay towing and storage fees for the car.
Tobias’ approval of the Carranza case and five others comes after the June arrest of Cardinalli and Greer, along with Cardinalli’s daughter, son-in-law and a process server that delivered legal papers for the family. The 140 charges in the criminal case filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office include allegations of attempted grand theft, lying on court forms, and altering or forging court documents.
Tobias suggested in an interview last month that preventing Cardinalli and Greer from filing cases while dubbed vexatious litigants would only draw out the statute of limitations – the three-year window that plaintiffs have to file a case. And the longer cases are delayed, the more difficult a time former car owners will have defending themselves, Tobias said.
“I’m going to let the defendants – if properly served (with a summons) – come into court and defend themselves,” Tobias said.
He acknowledged that he can’t ensure that defendants receive court summons.
The criminal case against Greer includes allegations that a process server delivered a court summons to a vacant apartment, despite submitting a sworn court document stating that he hand-delivered the summons to the defendant. Greer has previously denied responsibility for such suspect documents, laying the blame instead on his process server.
The charges against Cardinalli, meanwhile, include allegations that he convinced a process server to inflate the costs of delivering legal paperwork so that Cardinalli could collect a larger judgment for court fees.
Cardinalli’s attorney did not return a call for comment, but Greer’s criminal attorney Arthur Cantu said he believes the latest cases are all above board.
“I’m confident that my client – after having these very serious accusations pointed against him – that he will proceed in the most proper and lawful fashion,” Cantu said, “and will ensure that every step of the proceeding is done in a transparent matter, so anybody looking at this can see that they are strictly legitimate prosecutions.”
The half dozen new cases filed in Hollister include four from Cardinalli and two from Greer.
“I’m surprised and I’m disappointed, but I have to defer to the courts and hope they’re giving additional scrutiny in light of the charges,” said Santa Clara County District Attorney Dale Lohman, who’s prosecuting the case against the Cardinalli family.
The latest cases include documentation that was not typically filed in hundreds of cases reviewed as part of a Dispatch investigation into the family and its business practices. In addition to vehicle information and police reports, the new cases include release of liability forms or promissory notes signed by the defendants or their relatives, such as the one signed by Carranza.
In the last seven years, Cardinalli and Greer have filed more than 2,000 small claims cases in San Benito and Santa Clara counties, according to the Dispatch investigation. Many defendants have claimed they long since disposed of the vehicle, and a few have shown they never owned the cars in question.
Greg Adler, an attorney for auto-salvage company Copart Inc., prevailed in three lawsuits by Greer and helped two other defendants get the son and his father declared vexatious litigants.
“Two different courts in Santa Clara County found that Greer and Cardinalli repeatedly filed frivolous lawsuits against innocent people, often based on false documents,” Adler said, adding later: “In my opinion, if the presiding judge in San Benito County is knowingly continuing to allow these cases to be filed with little or no scrutiny and no security bond, then it’s a slap in the face to all of the innocent people who have been victimized by this scam.”
