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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Ind. Courts - "Lawsuit challenges Indianapolis traffic court fines" [Updated]

Jason Thomas reports on the Indianapolis Star website this afternoon:

A class action lawsuit filed today in Marion County Superior Court alleges a traffic court judge's practice of assessing additional fines to defendants who challenge their tickets is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit, filed by Indianapolis attorney Paul K. Ogden, claims Marion County Traffic Court Judge William Young imposes fines of up to an additional $500 against defendants who choose to have their day in court and are found guilty rather pay their traffic or parking ticket.

"The threat of additional fines has caused a number of defendants who believed they were innocent to instead pay their ticket rather than risk going before Judge Young," the complaint states.

The lawsuit, which names Young, the traffic court and the city of Indianapolis as defendants, also cites a news release from the city of Indianapolis in which officials intend to authorize a new parking citations court to fine defendants up to $2,500 if they challenge their parking tickets.

Ogden is seeking an order prohibiting the traffic court and parking citations court from imposing fines on defendants for challenging their cases; and that the money collected in extra fines be returned.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of defendants who have appeared or who will appear before the traffic court, also claims that the court's practice of closing its courtroom to the public is unconstitutional. In the lawsuit, Ogden seeks an order to end the closed courtroom practice.

In the complaint, Toshinao Ishii and Matthew Stone allege the courts violate the U.S. and Indiana constitutions by punishing defendants who choose to have their day in court, according to a news release from Ogden.

Ishii challenged his speeding violation case and lost, which resulted in an extra $400 fine, bringing his total fines to $549.50, according to the complaint.

Stone, who wears a pacemaker and was cited for improperly wearing a seatbelt, heard about Young's policy and chose not to challenge the $25 ticket, according to the complaint.

Young's policy "has a chilling effect on the fair and equitable administration of justice," the complaint states.

Here is the statement of Paul K. Ogden, an attorney with Roberts & Bishop, about the lawsuit.

Here is the 9-page complaint.

The ILB has had several entries, the most recent from Dec. 5th, focusing on the legailty of the new "Article IV" court at the Guardian Home.

This entry from Nov. 30th quotes the city's press release announcing the new "court". Of particular interest to the ILB were these paragraphs near the end of the release:

The parking citation court will be managed by T2 Systems, which currently oversees the City's collections and software for parking tickets. The court, which will hold hearings on a daily basis, will allow violators increased opportunities from the currently run system which holds hearings every two weeks.

"Our goal with this program is to assist the City in collecting parking citation revenue. Working together with the City, T2 Systems also offers payment options over the Internet, mail or IVR to make paying citations as easy and convenient as possible," said Jim Zaloudek, Chief Financial Officer for T2. "This allows us to fulfill our role of helping the City's parking operations be as profitable and efficient as possible."

If citations are not paid prior to their scheduled hearing, the City may request a fine of up to $2,500 per citation. Upon receiving a judgment for an unpaid citation, individuals responsible could be subject to collections actions or having their vehicle registration suspended.

The Nov. 30th entry ended: "The ILB is not clear re in what respect this will be a 'court' and 'hold hearings.'" Rather, it looked like an expanded Article III ordinance violations bureau -- see the Dec. 5th entry for more detailed discussion of this.

[Updated at 4:45 PM] Some quotes from an Indy 6 News report this afternoon:

An Indianapolis law firm has filed suit on behalf of Marion County Traffic Court defendants who feel they have been unfairly treated as part of the city's toughened stance on traffic offenders. * * *

Traffic court has been the focus of scrutiny this year after complaints from defendants that the system doesn't immediately tell motorists how much they will have to pay.

"We have fines for so many different offenses we don't have the ability to have law enforcement put the right amount on those," [Judge William] Young told 6News in September.

In April, Young told 6News that defendants had better be prepared before entering his court.

"What I'm trying to have people stop doing is playing Russian roulette, or throwing the dice, if you will," Young said. "If you really feel that you were wronged and you wanted to go to trial, hire a lawyer, because there are a lot of opportunities that you might miss if you don't."

6 News links to two of its really interesting earlier stories:

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 8, 2009 03:01 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts