Watch CBS News

Family Says Towing Company In NJ Is Holding Their Belongings Hostage After Cross-Country Move

CARTERET, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A family originally from New Jersey is fighting to get their belongings back after their moving truck was involved in an accident.

The Rosmarins say their new home in Arizona is bare bones because B&L Towing in Carteret has been holding their furniture and belongings hostage for nearly two months.

"B&L was no help at all," David Rosmarin tells CBS2. "They wanted money, and they didn't care who the money came from. They were not going to release our stuff unless somebody paid them."

Experienced Transport Moving Company loaded the family's property from their Woolwich Township, New Jersey onto a box truck. The following day, the truck overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike in Newark, killing two people. B&L towed the truck to it's pound, where CBS2's crew found it completely empty on Sunday.

Rosmarin says he didn't know about the accident until July 16th, despite speaking to the moving company numerous times since June. Now, he says the towing company wants him to pay storage costs since the transport company hasn't.

"As of July 16th they wanted $44,100," David said. "They also said that an amount of $10,000 would maybe possibly sway them into releasing our goods to us."

B&L made the same demands of the Fortino family in the spring of 2017, when it towed away their moving truck that crashed while carrying their property. When CBS2 aired a story on their situation, B&L changed its tune and allowed the family to retrieve their belongings for free.

According to New Jersey vehicular towing laws, personal property is considered to be any item that is not directly affixed to the vehicle. Such items are to be released to the owner upon request at no charge.

CBS2 spoke to people working inside B&L's tow yard to find out what happened to the Rosmarin's belongings, but they said the yard was technically closed and no one from management would be able to answer any questions until Monday morning.

"It's been a huge emotional turmoil, stress on our family, on our lives," David said. "My wife's having nightmares over it."

The Rosmarins say they've hired an attorney thye hope can end their nightmare cross-country move.

Several calls to Experienced Transport went unanswered.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.