With no chance to contest, Noblesville parking tickets unconstitutional, lawsuit claims

Drivers in Noblesville who get parking tickets have two choices — pay now or pay later, but challenging the citation is not an option, and that makes the practice illegal, a new class-action lawsuit contends.

The suit, filed in Hamilton County Superior Court with Judge William Hughes, asserts the lack of due process violates the 5th and 14th amendments and demands the city's traffic code be changed and drivers get refunds.

If successful, the city could have to reimburse drivers slapped with tens of thousands of parking tickets dating back to 1989, when the city’s traffic code was written. The total number of citations is unknown, but police wrote nearly 11,000 tickets in 2015 and 2016, according to city records.

The lawsuit names the city, the council, Mayor John Ditslear and the police department as defendants,

City spokesman Robert Herrington and City Council President Chris Jensen said they could not comment on the lawsuit.

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The legal action was brought by three lawyers who were themselves dinged with several tickets. Those lawyer/plaintiffs are soliciting other motorists to join the class action and seek refunds for fines, vehicle tows and payments to remove wheel locks.

“There are no legal remedies, no access to a hearing for people who think they were wrongly issued a ticket,” said attorney William Webster, who filed the suit.

Webster, Joe Duepner and Andrew Dollard received tickets beginning in 2016 in and around the Noblesville town square, where the county courthouse is located.

When Dollard tried to pay his tickets as they came in — including one for parking more than 12 inches from the curb — he was told by the city there was no process to challenge them, the lawsuit claims.

On Jan. 18, 2017, Webster’s car was locked down with a "Denver Boot," and he was instructed to pay $25 and $100 of $400 in outstanding ticket fines to free the vehicle. Parking ticket fines are $10 but rise to $100 the longer one delays paying it. If a driver has three or more unpaid tickets older than 60 days, a boot is put on the car.

The tickets and the boot notice had no instructions about how to appeal, only directions for how "to obtain release," of the boot and his car, the lawsuit alleges.The Noblesville traffic code neglects to mention any appeals process at all, which is also a violation of state statute, the lawyers said.

"The Noblesville traffic code needs to be changed in order to afford people due process rights before their property interests are taken away,” said Carla Garino, Webster’s law partner.

When asked via email how a motorist contests a parking ticket, Herrington, of the mayor's office, did not respond.

In Indianapolis, Carmel and Fishers, the appeals process is spelled out on the tickets. The Indianapolis government website has a page dedicated to how to contest the tickets.

If you've received a parking ticket in Noblesville and were unable to challenge it, IndyStar would like to hear your story.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418 or contact him on Twitter and Facebook.