County officials said they plan to continue a legal battle over more than $400 million in fines a court ruled were illegally collected by red light cameras. Lawyers on the other side of the suit say they should stop and focus on paying back the fines they owe.
“This was money that was wrongfully taken from ticket holders and taxpayers. The county violated the law,” said David Raimondo, an attorney leading the suit against the county. “The government was the lawbreaker. They should do the right thing, admit that what they did was wrong and agree to pay back the ticket holders.”
Democratic legislators condemned and voted against a bill last week to spend $2.5 million in taxpayer funds on private law firms to fight the case, saying the county should instead spend money and time figuring out how to reimburse people who were charged illegally.
“We’re spending this money to revive cases that have already been decided by a court…to be illegal,” said Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow. “Instead of giving that money back to the people who were illegally charged with these fees, Bruce Blakeman decided it’s better to use taxpayer dollars to pay outside law firms.”
A partner at the firm the county is contracting with to continue its legal fight has donated tens of thousands of dollars to County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the county Republican Party, according to published reports.
“This is not leadership. It’s a legal scam,” Koslow said. “This money is going to donors. It’s going to firms that are making money off of our tax dollars. The decisions were already made. The cases are over. Bruce Blakeman is…chasing an outcome he will never find instead of giving that money back to people who are scraping by right now.”
Since 2009, Nassau has been charging drivers a $100 “driver responsibility” fine on top of the normal $50 red light camera fine. In November, after a 10-year lawsuit, an appellate court ruled that the additional fee was illegal. The county stopped charging it days later.
Suffolk, which was charging a similar $30 fine on top of the normal $50 fine, agreed to settle the case after the court ruled it was illegal, unlike Nassau, Raimondo said.
Raimondo said it was in Nassau’s best interest to agree to settle the case quickly as well as decisions have already been made in favor of drivers and interest to the tune of millions a month is accruing on the amount the county will need to pay out.
“We’re hopeful that both counties, since they’ve lost in the appellate division, will come to their senses and do what’s in the best interest of the taxpayers,” Raimondo said. “The money that [will be] paid back to ticket holders was never taxpayer money to begin with. Essentially, it was money borrowed by the counties at 9% interest, which now has to be returned. They had no authority to charge that money.”
Once the cases are settled, anyone who has ever paid the driver responsibility fine will be eligible to receive funds. People do not have to be in contact with the law firm or involved in legal action.
“We’re hoping to get people back what they paid, and if we can’t get that, then we’re hoping to get back as much as we possibly can in relation to what they paid, because the government was the wrongdoer,” Raimondo said.
He added that it was unclear exactly how much each Nassau County resident would get at this point, as the firm was still waiting for driver data from the county and for an exact settlement amount to be determined.
The next court date is set for July 30.
