L.A.'s Red-Light Camera Scam: It Was "Voluntary" All Along!

This evening, I was listening to KABC-AM Talk Radio and a subject was announced that caught my attention: the red-light photo ticket program has been killed by the Los Angeles City Council. But the part that caught my attention was that paying the ticket was "voluntary" all along. What?!








According to the Los Angeles Times:

City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don't respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially "voluntary" and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay.

The disclosure comes as the city is considering whether to drop the controversial photo enforcement program, with the City Council scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday. Even if the program is shut down, it will be little consolation to the tens of thousands like Brickman who already paid fines.

The city dropped the program today.

I am one of those who paid a red-light camera ticket earlier this year. The fine: $476.

The Times' article goes on:

Legal questions about how intensely the city can enforce red-light camera tickets have been circulating at City Hall for months, and some officials have been publicly decrying the problem for some time. But many motorists were shocked this week to read reports that the Los Angeles Police Commission and elected officials consider payment of the hefty fines and fees to be "voluntary."

I called into KABC-AM Talk Radio tonight and was the first caller put on the air on this topic. I said that this revelation "smelled like a rotten fish" and people who paid the tickets should start a class-action lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and the red-light camera ticket contractor for being coerced into paying "under false pretenses." It was also revealed that a number of city council members took campaign money from the contractor. Big surprise!

The final paragraph in the Los Angeles Times article (which I read after my call into KABC) said that a class-action lawsuit is being looked into:

Although refunds may not yet be available to those like Brickman who paid their tickets, Sherman Ellison, an attorney who has dealt with "hundreds" of such traffic cases, said some class-action lawyers are watching the Los Angeles County situation closely and determining whether there would be grounds for a lawsuit to recover red-light camera penalties.

If Ellison decides to proceed, he can count me in!

To read the full article go here.