http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/09/class-action_suit_against_jeff.html

Class-action suit against Jefferson Parish redlight cameras sends notices to those who paid fines
Published: Friday, September 09, 2011, 5:51 PM    

Updated: Friday, September 09, 2011, 5:55 PM
By Jeff Adelson, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune

Drivers who ran afoul of Jefferson Parish's red-light camera system are receiving some news in the mail this week: a notice that the class-action lawsuit seeking to recoup the fines they paid is moving forward.

The notices were sent to about 145,000 people in the two-year-old suit against Redflex Traffic Systems, the Phoenix, Ariz., company that owns the cameras.

"If they got a ticket and they paid it, they're a member of the class," said Joseph McMahon, one of the six plaintiffs' attorneys suing Jefferson Parish.

The notices come after Judge Robert Pitre of the 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna ruled that a suit brought by motorists Earl Falgoust and Kathleen McMenamin should encompass all the complaints against Redflex, including an older case filed by motorists Timothy Morales, Barry Sevin Jr. and Edwin Bernard. The latter group filed their suit in state court in after losing a similar case in federal court.

Those cases allege that the red light system ran afoul of the state's laws and constitution.

Jefferson Parish began using Redflex's automated system in October 2007 and shelved it in March 2010, after the Parish Council began questioning commissions that the company planned to pay local lobbyists for helping to secure thecontract with the parish. Those lobbyists, Bryant Wagner and Julie Murphy, were set to receive 3.2 percent of the money that Jefferson Parish made to the company.

Redflex sued the parish in July 2010 for failing to pay $4.9 million that it said the parish owed to the company. The parish has escrowed the $20 million it collected from the fines.

The suit against Redflex covers all drivers who paid the $110 camera tickets, regardless whether they contested those tickets in court, McMahon said. The mail notices were sent to all motorists who paid their fines and whose address was on record with the Jefferson Parish.

"This is the only game in town," McMahon said.

Those who received a notice and do not want to be part of the suit have until Oct. 31 to opt out. The case will move forward at that point, though it is unclear when it will go to trial or settlement.

Anyone who meets the requirements to be a member of the suit and does not opt out will be considered part of the case and does not need to contact the attorneys.

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