A City of DeKalb private towing company, charged with six counts of towing ordinance violations, filed a civil suit against the city Tuesday, claiming the ordinance is unconstitutional.

Michael Fitzgerald, owner of Northern Illinois Towing, 2615 Sycamore Road, is seeking “in excess” of $15,000 in damages, Fitzgerald’s attorney James P. Minnihan said.

DeKalb attorney Ron Matekaitis said the towing ordinance is valid based on the Illinois Constitution, the United States Constitution and prevailing case law.

Fitzgerald has lost money since the ordinance has been passed, because the city has set the price of his services and has forced him to keep his business open 24 hours, Minnihan said.

The DeKalb City Council passed a towing ordinance in March requiring all private towers to be open 24 hours and set the service charge for towing at $35, Minnihan said.

“Our position is that the city government doesn’t have the authority to set rates for private businesses which perform services on private property, or to set their hours,” Minnihan said.

He said Fitzgerald’s company is not a public towing company because Fitzgerald does not tow vehicles from city streets.

“DeKalb would have an interest in determining Fitzgerald’s fees if he was towing off public streets, but he’s towing off private property. There’s no public interest there,” Minnihan said.

Matekaitis said Fitzgerald’s position is the state cannot pass any law impairing any contracts between private people. “If he (Fitzgerald) had his way, he could charge $100 to $300 a tow. There would be no maximum charge,” he said.

When a person’s car is towed, they have no choice of a tower, Matekaitis said.

At the time the ordinance was passed, two private towing companies existed in DeKalb, but the ordinance has already put one of those companies out of business, Minnihan said.

He said all the actions the city has taken have been aimed at effectively putting Fitzgerald out of business.

“DeKalb has arbitrarily set a rate for a private business,” Minnihan said.

The private tower has no competition and, without the new city ordinance, can charge whatever he wants and the person has no ability to bargain, Matekaitis said.

The city charged Fitzgerald in November with five counts of unlawful relocation, rate and towing practices, and one count of tampering with a motor vehicle, Minnihan said.

Fitzgerald was not notified of the charges until December, he said.