Judge to make key ruling on ticket case

A West Palm Beach attorney on Wednesday asked an Orlando judge to transform a case about a $125 red-light camera ticket into a $4 million class-action lawsuit with nearly 50,000 plaintiffs.

Circuit Judge Lisa Munyon listened to 90 minutes of argument and said she would rule within the next 60 days.

The issue is an old one: the city of Orlando’s redlight camera ticketing system that was in place from 2007 to 2010.

In 2014, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional. The Florida Legislature and the City of Orlando have rewritten their laws, fixing what the high court said was improper.

But there were nearly 50,000 tickets that the city issued during those years, and attorney Jason Weisser of West Palm Beach contends that the people who received them should be part of a lawsuit seeking refunds.

On Wednesday, he asked Munyon to include all of them in a lawsuit he filed in 2011 on behalf of Richard Easter, who got a red light ticket April 24, 2010, at the corner of Conroy Road and Vineland Road.

A different circuit judge, Frederick Lauten, now chief judge of Orange and Osceola counties, rejected Weisser’s class-action request in a similar suit in 2010.

David King, the lawyer hired by the city to argue its case, on Wednesday urged Munyon to make the same ruling as Lauten.

Most importantly, King said, nearly everyone that Weisser wants included in the suit voluntarily paid the $125 ticket.

When they were ticketed, only 378 filed an appeal and asked for a hearing, he said.

Weisser wants all those who paid voluntarily included in the suit.

During that 2007-2010 period, the city issued redlight camera citations totaling more than $6 million, and drivers paid more than $4 million in fines.