DALLAS -- Avi Adelman is usually on the side of towing companies, fighting to rid neighborhood streets around lower Greenville of partying illegal parkers.

"You've got 8700 people that have been towed by this one company in the past year, and half that could have paid this fee without realizing it," said Adelman.

The towing company he's talking about is Lonestar Auto Services. The fee, a governmental entity charge, is around $46 in most cases. It's a fee Adelman, and the city, say doesn't exist in Dallas and should not be charged.

In fact, over the past year and a half, the city's transportation department has cited the towing company nearly two dozen times, claiming that the governmental entity fee Lone Star is charging is illegal.

We contacted James Mosser, the attorney for Lone Star. He told us, these citations were not lawfully issued. He went on to say the city of Dallas has no right to regulate these tow companies and their storage facilities."

The city of Dallas sees it differently, and has recently handed the case over to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

A spokesperson with the TDLR said today that as far as this agency is aware, the city of Dallas has no such fee. If that is the case, then this fee was not authorized under the state rules. We are investigating this matter, and will try to determine the legality of these fees."

The TDLR says the company could eventually lose its license to operate. Meanwhile, thousands of people towed by the company, just like Fidel Flores, may have lost more money than they should. "This is paying more than you're supposed to, and you're not supposed to do that," said Flores.

E-mail bgreene@wfaa.com