Chicago Towed a Wheelchair Van as Abandoned. It Was Sold for Scrap for $15. The City Settled.

The Chicago City Council approved a settlement on Feb. 18, 2026, in a class action over cars the city towed as abandoned, CBS Chicago reported. The case began with a wheelchair accessible van that the city towed, then sold for scrap for $15.

The van

Andrea Santiago, who is 75 and has multiple sclerosis, owned a wheelchair accessible van with a $10,000 hydraulic wheelchair lift, CBS Chicago reported. The city towed it from a street in the Jefferson Park neighborhood under its abandoned vehicle program. Her family says the van was "absolutely not abandoned," according to CBS. When the family found it at the city auto pound on Sacramento Boulevard, it had already been sold for scrap for $15, CBS reported.

The class action

Santiago asked the city to reimburse her $15,000 for a replacement van, and the city refused, so her attorney, Jacie Zolna, filed a class action, CBS reported. Zolna said the city towed vehicles that were parked legally if they stayed in place for seven days. The class includes about 5,000 vehicle owners whose cars were towed since 2017 without proper notice, according to CBS.

What the settlement does

Under the settlement, the city must notify owners by mail in advance before towing a vehicle it believes is abandoned, CBS reported. Hoodline reported that the city must also send two separate mailed notices to owners of impounded vehicles before those cars can be sold or junked, and an extra warning to owners of cars lacking valid registration stickers.

Hoodline reported that the settlement totals about $1.96 million, including a compensation fund of roughly $1.43 million and more than $400,000 in court costs and attorney fees. Eligible owners whose cars were towed after June 11, 2017, could receive $1,250 if their car was scrapped, or a refund of the fees they paid to retrieve a towed vehicle, Hoodline reported. CBS reported that the total cost to taxpayers, including $1.6 million in legal fees paid to the city's private law firms, is more than $3 million.

What we could not confirm

Our video said the city sold nearly 3,000 cars to its own contractor for $15 each. We could not find that in the reporting we reviewed, and CBS puts the class at about 5,000 owners, so the figure is not repeated here. We also could not confirm which company bought the van.

Our question

Photos and video: ReoFact.