Red Light Camera News West Palm Beach and ATS SHOP for "NEW" Hearing officer for RLC "TRIAL" for one sided outcome.
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West Palm Beach and ATS SHOP for "NEW Hearing officer for RLC "TRIAL" for one sided outcome. ATS HIRES HIGH PRICE LAW FIRM TO KEEP ITS SCAM GOING!
West Palm steps up fight against red-light camera ticket challengers Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post
Updated: 6:42 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011
Posted: 10:38 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — The free ride could be over for people challenging tickets they get from unmanned cameras for running red lights.
Unlike last month, when nearly everyone left court smiling and waving papers that showed their tickets had been dismissed, most who appeared before a traffic hearing officer Tuesday were ordered to pay fines and $106 in court costs.
Not only was there a different hearing officer deciding the cases, but West Palm Beach has lawyered up to keep the controversial and lucrative program afloat.
Instead of letting a police community service aide try to combat legal arguments raised by attorneys hired to beat the tickets, the city dispatched Assistant City Attorney Lisa Conforti.
She got a boost from an attorney from the high-powered law firm of Carlton Fields, who fed Conforti case law and advice. The attorney, Amanda Sansone, is being paid by American Traffic Solutions, which operates cameras in West Palm Beach, Palm Springs and Juno Beach, and has contracts with other Palm Beach County municipalities planning to launch red light camera programs.
"It's preposterous," attorney Robert Pasch said of the legal muscle being used to collect the $158 tickets. "There's three attorneys in there and they brought a box of case law with them."
Indeed, if someone wandered into the courtroom and listened to the arguments, it would appear much more than traffic tickets were at stake. (Ban the CAMS NOTE: ATS PROFIT SCAM is what is at stake!)
Conforti and attorney Robyn Rappaport Weiss sparred over appellate court rulings on what evidence was admissible.
Weiss, who has helped many beat the tickets, ultimately lost her first camera case when hearing officer James McGlynn ruled against a technical legal argument that involved the hearsay rule.
Pasch was more successful. He beat a ticket for a client, arguing that the time and date stamp wasn't admissible. Without it, the city couldn't prove that his client was mailed the ticket within the required 60 days.
Assistant Police Chief Dennis Crispo said it appears kinks that allowed for so many successful challenges have been worked out.
The big difference was that Conforti, not a police aide, was representing the city, he said. Another bonus was McGlynn.
Unlike hearing officer John Kurtz, McGlynn made the attorneys wait until last. By then, most of those without attorneys had been ordered to pay fines of $50 to $150.
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