Federal Court Green Lights Anti-Camera Lawsuit

The Newspaper
by The Newspaper

A federal appellate court ruled Tuesday that a portion of a lawsuit against the red light camera and speed camera program in Cleveland, Ohio could proceed. Daniel McCarthy and Colleen Carroll argued that the city had unconstitutionally deprived them of their property after the Parking Violations Bureau fined them $100 when the municipal traffic camera ordinance did not give the city any authority to impose a fine on someone who leases his vehicle. A district court judge threw out the case, but the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found merit in the state law aspects of their argument.

Under Cleveland’s photo enforcement ordinance, liability for the tickets is imposed on the registered owners of the vehicle. Neither McCarthy nor Carroll owned their respective vehicles, nor were they listed as the owners in state records. The city ticketed them anyway.

“Under the plain text of Cleveland’s ordinance, plaintiffs were not liable for the tickets,” Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr wrote for the court.

The Ohio Court of Appeals ruled against Cleveland on this point in a separate case, and the city modified its ordinance to cover leased vehicles. McCarthy and Carroll want the city to refund every fine collected before the change was made because those takings lacked legal sanction.

The Sixth Circuit did not believe that this issue was appropriate for federal court. It suggested that supreme court precedents tend to indicate that a Fifth Amendment “taking” would only occur if the city had seized the bank accounts of ticket recipients. The court found it premature to assert that they had been denied compensation for property taken if they had not first appealed their citation through the entire legal process and received a final decision — even though the cost of the challenge would far exceed the price of the citation.

“Because the challenged ordinance does not seize or otherwise impair an identifiable fund of money, plaintiffs have failed to plead a cause of action under the Takings Clause,” Mays wrote. “We therefore affirm the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ Section 1983 claim.”

McCarthy and Carroll fared better with their claim that Cleveland took their property in violation of the Ohio Constitution’s Takings Clause, which the state supreme court has ruled offers greater protections than the Fifth Amendment.

“The district court did not analyze Count I of plaintiffs’ amended complaint, which asserted that Cleveland’s enforcement of the traffic camera ordinance unjustly enriched the city,” Mays ruled. “We, therefore, must reverse the judgment of the district court on these state law claims and remand this case for further proceedings.”

A copy of the decision is available in a 50k PDF file at the source link below.

McCarthy v. Cleveland (US Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, 11/10/2010)

[Courtesy: Thenewspaper.com]

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 3 comments
  • CarPerson CarPerson on Nov 11, 2010

    Any way the camera's can be defeated is a win, take it. We are seeing the pro-camera people formulate a new theory about Red Light Runners (RLRs). It's based on the precedent that it's well known that certain atmospheric conditions bring out werewolves (?!?). Don’t laugh. This is a close approximation of what the mayor of Bellingham, WA is trying to sell to city residents. If the green and yellow lights are shortened at an intersection, RLRs are drawn to that intersection like moths to a flame where they can be caught and cash extracted. In fact, several intersections in Lynnwood, WA are being over-run by RLRs to the tune of $9,000,000 per year in fresh revenue. Slashing yellows to as little as 2.8s is especially effective in getting the RLRs to reveal themselves for the good of the public plus there is that ATM aspect. If the green was extended 5 seconds and the yellow set to a minimum of 4.5s, RLRs would simply move to different intersections or worse, completely disappear into the general populace. Longer times would be like sunlight to a werewolf. That would be a very bad and should not be allowed to happen in the city of Bellingham. You have my condolences if you follow that logic.

    • JimC JimC on Nov 11, 2010

      Sadly, I follow that logic. I think the red light cameras should make for good plinking. You have my admiration if you follow that logic. :)

  • Oosh Oosh on Nov 11, 2010

    That image just looks like a generic CCTV camera to me and nothing to do with Red-light or Speeding tickets...

  • SCE to AUX I've never been teased by a bumper like that one before.
  • 3SpeedAutomatic R&T could have killed the story before it was released.Now, by pulling it after the fact, they look like idiots!! What's new??
  • Master Baiter "That said, the Inflation Reduction Act apparently does run afoul of WTO rules..."Pfft. The Biden administration doesn't care about rules. The Supreme Court said they couldn't forgive student load debt; they did it anyway. Decorum and tradition says you don't prosecute former presidents; they are doing it anyway. They made the CDC suspend evictions though they had no constitutional authority to do so.
  • 1995 SC Good. To misquote Sheryl Crow "If it makes them unhappy, it can't be that bad"
  • 1995 SC The letters on the hatch aren't big enough. hard pass
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