A North Carolina tow-truck operator must pay about $67,000 to settle claims that he repossessed and sold vehicles owned by Marines

Billy Joe Goines, owner of Goines Towing and Recovery outside Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., agreed to the reimbursement amount in a settlement, court documents filed Tuesday said.

He also will forgive storage fees charged to the eight Marines and take training on the legal rights of military personnel.

The federal government sued Goines and his company in March based on claims he had thwarted legal protections for deployed service members.

The case is the first brought by the U.S. against a towing company under a section of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act that requires them to submit an affidavit as to whether the owner of a repossessed vehicle is in the military, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Prior to asking for a court judgment to sell a vehicle, repo companies are supposed to check whether its owner is in the military.

Goines told the court that he and his employees couldn’t determine that, even when they had towed the vehicle from the parking lot of a barracks on the base.

https://www.stripes.com/branches/marine_corps/2023-12-27/gavel-marines-towing-12478549.html