CRIME & COURTS

Lawsuit seeks refund of 20,000-plus Iowa traffic tickets

Jason Clayworth
jclayworth@dmreg.com

More than 20,000 tickets written by the Iowa Department of Transportation were illegally issued, a situation that obligates the state to refund the fines and remove the wrongful convictions from motorists' records, according to a new court filing seeking class-action status against the state.

If successful, Iowa could be on the hook to repay millions of dollars in fines and court costs dating back five years.

Tuesday’s court filing builds upon an ongoing legal battle launched earlier this year after a DOT officer issued a speeding ticket to 16-year-old Peyton Atzen, a student at Southeast Polk High School.

Peyton Atzen, 16, was ticketed by an Iowa Department of Transportation officer in May. He and his parents challenged the authority to issue such tickets.

Atzen and his family successfully argued in Polk County District Court that Iowa law limits officers outside of the state’s public safety department from enforcing most moving violations. His ticket was dismissed.

In response, two other motorists with recent speeding tickets from DOT officers filed a request last week for a court injunction against the state. They argued that their tickets were illegally issued and that the state’s DOT should be ordered immediately to stop issuing most citations to noncommercial motor vehicles.

On Tuesday, the request for an injunction was amended and now seeks class-action status.

The amended lawsuit adds Stuart resident Rick Rilea to the lawsuit “as a representative for all others who have received and paid citations” that were illegally issued by the DOT, the lawsuit said.

Rilea has already paid his fine for a speeding ticket issued by a DOT officer in Warren County in September. That included a $300 fine plus $165 in court costs and surcharges for traveling 66 mph in a 55 mph work zone along Interstate Highway 35.

Tuesday’s amended lawsuit alleges that the state knowingly has been “unjustly enriched” by the tickets, noting the Iowa Supreme Court ruled nearly 70 years ago that DOT officers did not have those powers.

1990 Iowa attorney general opinion concurred, saying DOT officers' authority is limited to drunken driving enforcement and commercial motor vehicle violations related to registration, size and weight, based on another section of the law.

“If defendants do not relent and acknowledge their lack of authority, plaintiffs and those similarly situated are at risk of being illegally stopped, illegally issued citations and illegally convicted,” the lawsuit filed by Brandon Brown and Gina Messamer, attorneys at the Parrish Kruidenier law firm, said.

Attorney Brandon Brown

DOT officials have insisted that their officers receive the same training as public safety officers. Tickets are issued based on public safety, not revenue, the department has argued.

The agency intends to "vigorously assert a number of defenses" on the merits of the case, Andrea Henry, a spokeswoman for the Iowa DOT, said Tuesday. The agency has never made enforcement decisions based on revenue, she said.

"It is contrary to public welfare and safety, as well as good sense and logic, to suggest that individuals have a right to disregard public safety laws or will suffer irreparable harm if they are not allowed to disregard public safety laws," Henry said Tuesday.

A Register review in July showed the DOT had issued more than 25,000 tickets over a five-year period. Roughly half of those — nearly $2 million in payments —  were to noncommercial vehicles, which are the tickets being challenged as illegal. Each ticket, with court costs, averaged about $150.

Tuesday’s class-action lawsuit seeks to extend beyond speeding tickets. It encompasses most moving violations to noncommercial vehicles, including seat belts, expired insurance cards and failure to obey traffic control devices.

Records Brown obtained from the DOT show that adds thousands of additional tickets to the mix of potentially expunged traffic violations and refunds.