Hundreds of thousands could get refunds for red-light camera tickets

[Baitball Blogger]

(This is a subscription only article)

Hundreds of thousands of motorists who paid tickets because a camera took a picture or video of their vehicles running a red light could get their money back if newly filed lawsuits prevail in federal court.

Consider what might be at stake: Local governments in Florida meted out fines totaling nearly $100 million in the most recently ended fiscal year.

One lawsuit wants to force Apopka and other Florida cities with red-light cameras to pay back the millions they have collected from motorists in ticket fines and costs. Orange County's second-largest city kept nearly $1 million of the $2.1 million in red-light ticket revenue it hauled in during fiscal year 2014.

The state, which gets an $83 cut of every $158 fine, also could be on the hook to repay motorists.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-red-light-camera-lawsuits-florida-20141103-story.html

[shenmue]

1. I sure hope so

They got me for one of those a while ago. $158 I didn't have at the time. Jerks.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Hope you get your refund.

[shenmue]

4. Thanks

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Did you run the red light?

[lame54]

3. I got one of those "tickets" once...

it came in the mail - with 3 pics of my car running the light

but - it was not from the court - it was from the city

if i paid the $50 dollars it would not go on my record

it wasn't a ticket - it was a shakedown or they would report me to the court

[shenmue]

5. Yipes

That's awful.

[flamin lib]

6. What are the grounds for the suit? nt

[csziggy]

8. Different set of appeals, same issues from Miami-Herald - non subscription article

Red-light camera fight escalates with South Florida lawsuit

By David Ovalle
[e-mail]

10/29/2014 8:28 AM

<SNIP>
The system works like this: Company representatives view video footage, stored on a computer, and forward any supposed red-light camera violations to the city. If a city police employee agrees the footage shows a violation, they click a digital “accept” button and the company prints and issues a “notice of violation” to the motorist.

If the motorist fails to pay the fine, then ATS issues a citation on behalf of the city, featuring a digital signature of the law enforcement officer.

In this month’s opinion, Broward’s Fourth District Court of Appeals said “for all practical purposes,” the private company was the one deciding which cases get prosecuted.

“Florida law does not grant the city any authority to delegate to a private third-party vendor the ability to issue uniform traffic citations,” the judges ruled.

<SNIP>

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article3423438.html#storylink=cpy