Every one who handled it should be on the hook. The problem as far as correction is all the ones involved were likely civilian employees or contractors. Meaning if they screw up not much happens unless they own the company.
I can not believe the storage company did not know about the legalities involved though. Any company doing business either with service members or those contracted for such by the military on their behalf knows about the sermembers civil relief act. It seems the Commander made it an issue which is great. Their needs too be accountability and immediate correction.
I can’t really blame the storage company. They make their money by renting space and when somebody stops paying rent, the storage company has to do something about that stuff. They did take the extra step to phone the military about it and didn’t just arbitrarily auction it.
I also can’t really blame the military. It’s not their stuff and the military has made it clear that you are responsible for your possessions.
If I were in that situation, I’d probably have somebody I could trust, like a relative, look after these matters and let the storage company know who to contact over these things.
Love the tag line!
“Navy officials stopped paying for her storage in 2010 and told the West Bend company it could sell off the goods - though the Navy bureaucrats and even the storage business could have easily learned that Roberts was deployed and protected from such an action.”
The navy itself set this in motion. This is awful. The military owns plenty of land. Storage should be handled in house and not out.
A good lawyer would sue all of them and for as much as possible.
The NTS (Non-temp storage) service provider is not under contract with the service memeber when HHG are packed and brought into storage. They are considered government property moving under a 1299 or a GBl when they are released. The PPSO has the obligation to advise of the NTS entitlement to the storage provider and then advise of when it converts to member's expense. In the rare case that a converted shipment goes unpaid, the PPSO issues written authorization to auction the NTS lot. The PPSO screwed up. The service provider has no means to track the member down, all we are given is the HOR and pick0up location.
I do military SIT and NTS for three different PPSO's. Trust me, the SDDC has turned the DPS into a convuluted mess, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more than it does, but the fault is with the PPSO, not the NTS provider.