More cities that charged drivers for traffic warnings may become targets of a class action lawsuit spurred by the city of Morrow collecting more than $1 million in bogus fees, according to a report by Channel 2 Action News.
Earlier this year Judge Ronald Freeman, who charged motorists the fees, said, "It's my policy to always reduce these to warnings, let [drivers] pay the fines as court costs."
But that's not the way the law is supposed to work.
"You cannot fine people if they are not convicted of the offense," Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said.
Attorney David Fife is representing the drivers.
"We're essentially asking them on behalf of everybody that they took that money from, that they have to give it back," Fife told Channel 2's Jodi Fleischer.
Judge Freeman also works in Union City, Jonesboro and Riverdale. Fleischer filed a new open records request and found nearly 650 more tickets reduced to warnings with drivers fined another $132,111.
Karyl Baker got a ticket in Union City, where a different judge dismissed her case but charged her $135 in court costs.
"You are kind of eager to just say, ‘OK,’ because you don't want it on your record, but then when I left, it didn't seem right to me," said Baker.
So far, the lawsuit only targets Morrow, but "we could end up having essentially a class action that's bigger with multiple defendants," said Fife.
Fife told Fleischer he is asking the court for class action status on behalf of all drivers who were forced to pay for warnings or dismissals.
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