Federal Judge Scolds Traffic Camera Companies

The Newspaper
by The Newspaper

A US District Court judge on Monday in effect told the two largest photo enforcement firms that they need to act more like grown-ups. In November 2008, American Traffic Solutions (ATS) filed suit against its Australian competitor, Redflex Traffic Systems, alleging that the company won Arizona’s statewide photo radar contract by lying in bid proposals regarding the use of radar units not certified by the Federal Communications Commission. US District Court Judge Frederick J. Marton decided in August that the suit had merit and should proceed to trial ( view decision), but he showed signs of fatigue when faced with eleven separate motions and other items requiring judicial disposition Monday.

“The parties’ approach to this action has been needlessly contentious from the beginning,” Marton wrote. “The parties are advised to confer with each other to ensure that concerns are addressed promptly.”

The judge chided Redflex for waiting until the last minute to file required pleadings, spending five hours uploading large documents beginning at midnight. The judge only took a shot at ATS for its failure to come to agreement with Redflex on a proposed protective order, even though both companies agreed with that the proceedings should be as secretive as possible. The judge felt otherwise.

“The parties assert that some financial information should be protected because they are market competitors,” Marton wrote. “They also reference trade secrets, but fail to provide specifics… Both parties move for leave to seal nearly everything submitted in connection with defendant’s motion for summary judgment. This is wholly inappropriate.”

Under federal law, trial materials may only be sealed if the court finds a “compelling reason” supported by fact, not merely the desire of the parties involved. Precedents are even more strict in cases such as this one where government contracting is involved.

“The compelling reason standard is particularly apt in this case because it involves allegations that the citizens’ public agencies were subjected to false advertising,” Marton wrote. “The parties make no attempt to describe the specific portions of documents that they believe meet this high standard. Remarkably, they also fail to explain why the citizenry should not even have access to the statements of fact and plaintiff’s response.”

The judge granted and denied various motions by both Redflex and ATS in equal measure. Redflex responded to the ATS onslaught by filing a lawsuit against ATS at the very end of last year.

“Redflex invokes Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act and state law to compel American Traffic Solutions, Inc. to cease-and-desist in perpetuating its campaign to deceive consumers and thwart fair competition in the marketplace by falsely advertising and promoting its photographic traffic law enforcement services on a worldwide basis,” Redflex wrote in its complaint. “Redflex also seeks both monetary and exemplary damages to hold ATS accountable for the injuries its willful misconduct has inflicted on Redflex, on consumers of photographic traffic law enforcement services, and on the public.”

Redflex charges that the ATS claim that its red light cameras and speed cameras are “Made in America” is false because the main photographic component is manufactured by Nikon, a Japanese firm. ATS responded last week that Redflex had made no legitimate claim under federal law.

The Newspaper
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  • Carsuppliers Carsuppliers on Feb 11, 2010

    To they earn commissions on the fines they make possible to issue. Or how does that work? This is how they do this here. But then it is the speedcops running this.

  • DangerousDave DangerousDave on Feb 11, 2010

    Hopefully they will sue eachother out of business.

  • THX1136 What happened to the other companies that were going to build charging stations? Maybe I'm not remembering clearly OR maybe the money the government gave them hasn't been applied to building some at this point. Sincere question/no snark.
  • VoGhost ChatGPT, Review the following article from Automotive News: and create an 800 word essay summarizing the content. Then re-write the essay from the perspective of an ExxonMobil public relations executive looking to encourage the use of petroleum. Ensure the essay has biases that reinforce the views of my audience of elderly white Trump-loving Americans with minimal education. Then write a headline for the essay that will anger this audience and encourage them to read the article and add their own thoughts in the comments. Then use the publish routine to publish the essay under “news blog” using Matt Posky listing the author to completely subvert the purpose of The Truth About Cars.
  • VoGhost Your source is a Posky editorial? Yikes.
  • Fed65767768 Nice find. Had one in the early-80s; loved it but rust got to it big time.Still can't wrap my head around $22.5K for this with 106,000 km and sundry issues.Reluctant (but easy) CP.
  • El scotto err not be an EV but to own an EV; too much training this week along the likes of what kind of tree would be if you were a tree? Sorry. Bring back the edit function.
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