A lawsuit recently was filed in the 19th Judicial District Court for East Baton Rouge Parish claiming the city of Baton Rouge's collection of fines through the use of traffic cameras is illegal.
The lawsuit, according to a posting on WBRZ.com, alleges that the Department of Public Works has violated the Home Rule Charter of Baton Rouge over the last 10 years as the police officers are required to enforce traffic violations and the use of the cameras makes the collection of fines illegal.
Joseph R. McMahon III of McMahon Law Firm who is one of the attorneys who is representing the residents who have been fined, recently spoke with the Louisiana Record regarding the lawsuit.
"I think that the lawsuit is well based in the law," McMahon told the Louisiana Record. "I believe that the class plaintiffs will be successful. If I didn’t, I would not have filed it."
The estimated total of all of the fines since 2007 is estimated to be millions of dollars, McMahon said. "The parish budgets reflect that the program has collected approximately $10 million," McMahon said.
McMahon said he believes that the use of the cameras is unconstitutional as it doesn't allow the individuals to confront the party accusing them of a violation.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 14 and is currently awaiting a 90-day period before the judge can determine if the case will be able to be filed as a class-action lawsuit.
McMahon and Anthony S. Maska, the other attorney involved in the lawsuit, filed a similar lawsuit in New Orleans alleging the use of the traffic cameras is a violation of their traffic fine rules.
McMahon believes that the suit should be able to reimburse all drivers who have been ticketed by the system over the last 10 years, according to BRProud.com.