Navistar Financial Corp. v. Allen’s Corner Garage & Towing Service, Inc. (1987)
Citation: 153 Ill. App. 3d 574 · Court: Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District, No. 2-86-0629 (opinion by Justice Unverzagt; Inglis and Reinhard, JJ., concurring) · Decided: March 18, 1987. Text retrieved from the Caselaw Access Project static file.
Source note (2026-10-18):
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https://static.case.law/ill-app-3d/153/cases/0574-01.jsonare an (unofficial Caselaw Access Project copy, retrieved before 2026-10-18; host disallows automated access); no official or otherwise permitted full-text copy was located on 2026-10-18.
Facts
At the State Police’s call, the garage uprighted an overturned tractor-trailer from a ditch and towed the tractor, trailer and cargo to its lot. Navistar, the tractor’s purchase-money lender, claimed the tractor after the driver-buyer defaulted and offered to pay the towing fee and storage to date. The garage refused to release the tractor until charges on all three units were paid. Navistar sued in replevin. The trial court allowed the garage a lien of USD 1,162 for towing but denied a lien for USD 910 of storage.
Holding
Affirmed in all respects. (1) Mere towing adds nothing to a vehicle’s “intrinsic value,” so a tower is not an artisan with a common-law artisan’s lien. (2) The garage, licensed as a common carrier by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Illinois Commerce Commission, had a common carrier’s lien for its carriage charges, the trial court having found the tow was consented to. (3) It had no lien for storage, because it held the tractor “for no reason other than to be able to insist on its lien rights.” A Vehicle Code storage-lien argument was waived because not raised below.
Reasoning
Common-law possessory liens are consensual and arise only by agreement, fixed rule of law or trade usage; they carry “no provision for forfeiture and sale” and are limited to retaining the chattel until paid. Police may remove disabled vehicles but cannot create a lien without the owner’s consent.
Practical impact
- Buyers: a towing yard’s common-law lien gives no power to sell; a sale must come through a statutory route (Small Amount Act, abandoned-vehicle procedure). See illinois module 12.3.
- Lenders: a secured lender can recover a towed vehicle by paying the carriage charges; storage accrued only to hold the vehicle hostage is not lienable at common law. Later statutes require certified notice to the lienholder before storage fees accrue (625 ILCS 5/4-216; 770 ILCS 50/1.5).
Good-law status
Relied on and followed by the Second District in ally-financial-v-pira-2017 (2017). Full citator
check not run — needs_verification.
Second verification pass (2026-10-16): citation, court, date, parties and holding re-checked against the opinion text at the source_url. No citator was available (CourtListener quota exhausted; a web search found no list of citing decisions) — citator not checked.
Applies in →
illinois · towing-storage-and-mechanics-lien-sales · motor-vehicles
Disclaimer: This page is legal information, not legal advice. Verify the cited opinion and current law and consult a licensed Illinois attorney before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-18.