The speeders claim they are owed $3.4 million plus interest. One of their attorneys, Josh Engel, said the decision signals the court, which has issued other speed decisions statewide, is ready to tackle the big the question.
That question: What process is necessary to actually levy a fine to people whom officials believe have violated a law?
Engel will be arguing before the court, which will be a Zoom-like argument held virtually. He has always maintained the speed camera program, contrary to what the village has claimed, has never been about public safety. He says the fact they used a third-party, out-of-state vendor — with a vested interest in the outcome — to run the program for a cut of the ticket revenues bolsters his case.
“The New Miami speed camera program was never designed to be anything more than a get rich quick scheme for the village,” Engel told the Journal-News. “Every time the village made the choice about how to run the system, the village and it’s business partner chose to cut corners on due process in order to make the collection of money more efficient. Practically nothing in the record suggests that this was done for a public safety purpose.”
The process New Miami used was flawed, according to two Butler County Common Pleas court judges, because the camera program does not allow drivers to obtain discovery, subpoena witnesses, or question the people who calibrated the cameras and approved the violation. The 12th District Court of Appeals decided it was fine so the speeders took it to the Supreme Court.
The village has spent more than $460,000 fighting this case for the past eight years. The litigation has taken three visits to the 12th District and two visits to the Ohio Supreme Court, where jurisdiction was denied. New Miami challenged the lower court’s rulings on class action status twice and a sovereign immunity issue. Until Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Oster issued his final judgment, the village could not appeal the entire case.
New Miami has maintained it has home rule authority to enforce traffic laws and keep its citizens safe from motorists who speed. It noted in its brief to the court that this case “is the last in a long line of state and federal case law denying constitutional challenges to virtually identical (speed camera) administrative hearings.”
New Miami’s outside counsel James Englert said he is excited to finally get to argue the case before the high court.
“It’s the first time that the court has faced this exact issue of whether the administrative hearings set up by municipalities meet the due process required by the Ohio Constitution,” Englert told the Journal-News. “Court of Appeals decisions in Ohio and federal courts in Ohio have all ruled that the hearings do provide due process where the private interest is a modest fine — $95 in New Miami — with no points or criminal implications.”
He added if people wanted to bring witnesses to bolster their case before the independent hearing officer they could have and “if the (car) owners wanted full discovery and subpoena power, they could appeal to the Butler County Court of Common Pleas.”
Both attorneys have argued before the high court once before. The argument typically only lasts a half hour because the parties have already filed briefs outlining their positions. However, in another recent Butler County case the justices allow attorneys to debate for 90 minutes over armed staff in the Madison Schools.
The justices will take time, usually several months, to deliberate after hearing the oral arguments so the ultimate decision is still a ways down the road. If they decide in favor of the village the speed cameras likely won’t begin rolling again any time soon. The village restarted the program using hand-held speed catchers several years ago, but now is also locked in litigation with the state over punitive new laws that have curtailed their program.
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