Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

All of this sounds quite improbable and far-fetched. In the first place, you should have arranged for somebody with a driver's license to have bailed out your rig the next day. Why not? Next, for the storage lien to get so high as to exceed the equipment value, seems like something's wrong. We you unreachable? Were you behind on payments?

There are lots of laws protecting vehicle owners from unscrupulous practices by tow companies, repossessors, and the like. An entire chapter of the Civil Code addresses Liens on Vehicles (Civil Code sections 3067 to 3074). Then, there is the Rees-Levering Motor Vehicle Sales and Finance Act, Civil Code sections 2981 et seq., covering rights of people who borrow from dealers and car companies.

Finally, getting a lien on someone's home after a vehicle tow is possible, but there are a lot of steps, including filing, serving and winning a lawsuit, getting a judgment, and recording an abstract of judgment with the County Recorder in a county where you have real estate. A creditor can't (with a few statutory exceptios) just "put a lien" on property; the creditor must generally go to court and get a judgment after winning a lawsuit.

There are certainly more facts that need to come out here, but it seems like you are being unduly pressured; on the other hand, you could have avoided this problem in the first place, or you could have minimized your harm by attending to the matter months ago.