New York has settled a class action lawsuit for $14 million after reportedly issuing tens of thousands of improper citations to truck drivers in what has been called a “massive parking ticket scandal.”
Lawsuit: New York Tried To Raise Revenue With Parking Ticket Scheme
According to the suit, New York attempted to raise revenue by allowing delivery truck drivers to enroll in the little known “Stipulated Fine Program”, which was supposed to give them special privileges. Those privileges included exemption from paying for double parking tickets. It also qualified them to pay reduced fines for other violations.
New York Hits Truck Drivers With 60,000 Parking Tickets That Should Not Have Been Written
Enrollment for the Stipulated Fine Program began in 2004, but the lawsuit alleges that in 2006, New York traffic police started issuing double parked trucks $40 tickets for lane obstruction — an offense that was not covered under the Stipulated Fine Program. The lawsuit says that police dolled out 60,000 lane obstruction tickets costing truck drivers $5 million between 2006 and 2010 as part of a “revenue raising scheme”. Worse, truckers enrolled in the program waived their rights to a hearing to fight the tickets.
NYTDA: Officials Caught “Red-Handed” In “Scandal”
New York did not admit to wrong-doing during the settlement, but according to New York Trucking and Delivery Association chairman Ken Thorpe, the fact that they settled for such a large sum is telling: “While the city admitted no liability in the settlement, it is a safe bet that they did not pay $14 million to return parking ticket money if the traffic division had not been caught red-handed in a massive parking ticket scandal.”
“We believe the proposed settlement is in the best interest of all parties,” said a spokesperson for the city.
Sources:
The New York Post
The New York Daily News