Noblesville sued for parking ticket due process violation

If you’ve ever gotten a ticket, you can join this lawsuit . . .

According to a class action lawsuit from attorneys William Webster, Joe Duepner and Andrew Dollard, the City of Noblesville has been violating the constitutional rights of every citizen who has been issued a parking ticket in the last several decades.

Garino

Webster

According to Webster, there is no procedure in place to dispute a parking ticket issued by the City of Noblesville. The City issues a ticket, they charge you fines, and if you do not pay the fines they will immobilize your vehicle with a ‘boot’ or tow it.

If your unpaid tickets result in booting your vehicle, under the current traffic code, you have to go sign a contract agreeing to pay the tickets. If you refuse to sign the contract they tow the vehicle.

“This is a violation of due process,” Webster said. “The government is not allowed to take your property without affording you due process.”

Attorney Carla Garino, Webster’s law partner, spearheaded the research and drafted the class action suit. She noted that this is based on research in other jurisdictions where there were no procedures in place to dispute parking violations.

“The Noblesville traffic code needs to be changed in order to afford people due process rights before their property interests are taken away,” Garino said.

The suit, which was filed in Hamilton County Superior Court 3 under Judge William Hughes, asked for both injunctive relief and an award of damages to people who were issued tickets or had their vehicles either immobilized or towed without the possibility to dispute or appeal the action.

The injunction requested that the City of Noblesville stop issuing parking tickets until they change their procedure to account for due process.

The lawsuit reads in part that the enforcement of Noblesville’s traffic code, “dating back to at least 1989, violate their rights and the rights of all those similarly situated to due process of law as guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 12 of the Indiana Constitution and Article 1, Section 21 of the Indiana Constitution.”

If you have been given a parking ticket or if you have had your vehicle either booted or towed in the City of Noblesville for alleged parking violations, you can join this class action lawsuit.

According to Webster, anyone who has been issued a parking ticket should contact Webster Law, 104 N. Union St., Westfield, IN 46074. You can stop by the office, call (317) 565-1818, fill out the contact form at websterlegal.com, or email wwebster@websterlegal.com.

Since the current procedure for paying parking tickets involves turning in the ticket to pay it, you are asked to provide some basic information regarding when you received your parking ticket. If you attempted to dispute your ticket, Webster Legal would also like to know what you were told in response to that request.