Dallas judge's ruling calls red-light camera fines into question 12:36 PM CT
01:22 PM CST on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
By JON NIELSEN / The Dallas Morning News
jnielsendallasnews.com
A Dallas judge's civil court ruling raises questions about millions of dollars in fines collected from Texas motorists caught on camera running red lights.
According to state District Judge Craig Smith, ACS State and Local Solutions violated the Texas Occupations Code, which states that unless a person holds a license as an investigations company, it has no authority to monitor intersections.
But the city of Dallas, which contracts with ACS, said Tuesday that the ruling won't affect its red-light camera system.
And lawyers with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which issues investigative licenses, have said they don't believe such companies need to be licensed.
'The photographing and video-recording of a vehicle, or the subsequent use of the resulting images in a municipal hearing, are not the functions of an investigation company as defined by Private Security Act and do not require a license under the Act,' they said in a prepared statement.
ACS denies any wrongdoing and 'will continue to defend our position,' spokesman Kevin Lightfoot said. 'We do not believe we are in violation of any local laws or regulations. We go to great lengths to understand the rules of every jurisdiction.'
Judge Smith's opinion late last month has led to two federal class-action lawsuits involving red-light camera companies - Redflex Traffic Systems and American Traffic Solutions. Both are based in Arizona, and fast digital camera neither is licensed in Texas.
According to their Web sites, these companies hold contracts in about three dozen North Texas cities, including Allen, Arlington, Balch Springs, Bedford, Burleson, Carrollton, Cedar Hill, Coppell, Denton, Duncanville, Farmers Branch, Fort Worth, Frisco, Grand Prairie, Haltom City, Hurst, Irving, Lancaster, Lewisville, McKinney, Mesquite, North Richland Hills, Plano, Richardson, Richland Hills, Roanoke, Southlake and University Park.
Dallas attorney Lloyd Ward filed the original civil case against ACS after his wife, Amanda, received a citation in 2007 from Dallas and ACS. He also filed the class-action suits after the judge's ruling.
'This isn't a ticket about Amanda Ward anymore,' Mr. Ward said. 'This is about thousands of tickets, millions of dollars, in thousands of cities. In the real world, it means all those tickets are invalid.'
Mr. Ward is asking the companies to reimburse thousands of motorists who paid fines.
Judge Smith asked ACS to respond to his ruling by the end of this week. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17.
Josh Weiss, a spokesperson with ATS, says his company is looking to hire legal counsel and candid camera sexi 'will work closely with our partners on appropriate next steps to ensure this case is quickly dismissed.'
Calls to Redflex were not returned.
Despite the ruling and pending lawsuits, Plano won't halt its red-light camera operations or change its contract with Redflex.
'Aas far as we're concerned, it has no impact on our operations,' Plano assistant city manager Bruce Glasscock said.
'We're going to continue unless our attorneys tell us otherwise.'
Dallas First Assistant City Attorney Chris Bowers said in a statement Tuesday that the city was not involved with the Ward case.
'The partial summary judgment order ... does not affect the city's right to administer and gps with backup camera enforce its red-light camera program, including collecting civil fines from violators, the statement said.
Red-light camera violations are civil, not criminal matters. Citations in Dallas typically run $75do not count against driving or insurance records. Cities generally receive a portion of the fines.
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