BIG PAYDAY LOOMS

The Government has conceded that it will have to return a substantial portion of traffic ticket fines that were collected over a 15-year period because of legislative missteps uncovered by one motorist.

It marks the latest development in a landmark lawsuit that was filed against the State in 2021 by motorist Maurice Housen – a case that legal experts believe could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Housen, who is a software engineer, contends that a $5,000 ticket issued to him by the police on July 5, 2021 for a speeding violation was illegal because of legislative missteps in the process used to increase fines for traffic offences.

He argued that at the time, fines or fixed penalties for traffic offences under the 1938 Road Traffic Act (RTA) were not increased by the legislature or the minister of transport as mandated in Section 116 of the RTA.

Instead, the fines were purportedly increased by then Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies in 2006 and 2007 as if they were taxes or duties under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, he asserted.

The minister of finance has no power or authority to increase fines or fix penalties under the Road Traffic Act, the software engineer argued through his attorneys Gavin Goffe, Jahmar Clarke and Matthew Royal from the law firm Myers, Fletcher and Gordon.

The Government used a marathon November 2021 meeting of the legislature, including an unusual Friday meeting of the Lower House, to pass a bill correcting the misstep days after the Supreme Court granted Housen an injunction blocking the police from issuing tickets that impose fines above the 2006 rates.

15-year period

Housen’s lawsuit seeks, among other things, an order for the Government to refund motorists, who, he contends, were illegally fined over the 15-year period ending in 2021 and a declaration that his constitutional rights to due process were breached by the imposition of the “illegal” penalties.

Lawyers for the Government have indicated in court that they received no instructions to agree to the refund.

But that stance appeared to change last Tuesday, when the director of state proceedings filed amended skeleton arguments in the case indicating that motorists are “entitled” to some refund of fines imposed over the period.

“Such persons are only entitled to the difference between the amount prescribed in the then act and the amount stated on the ticket,” read a section of the filing by attorneys for government.

The court has made no ruling on the refund request or Housen’s claim of constitutional breaches.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for October.

But already, the case has morphed into a class action suit after the presiding judge granted permission for Housen to be the representative of motorists who were issued traffic tickets over the 15-year period and paid fines that exceeded the rates that were in place before the purported 2006 measures.

Legal experts say it would be “a big payday” for citizens who were ticketed between 2006 and 2021 should the court rule that the software engineer’s constitutional rights were breached, coupled with the concession.

“Because everybody would then be entitled to the difference,” said one attorney, who asked not to be named because he is not involved in the case.

In 2021 alone, a total of 476,879 traffic tickets were issued by the police, an 18 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ) for that calendar year.

The tickets carried fines totalling $968 million for various traffic offences. Some 27.4 per cent of the fines were imposed for failure to wear a seatbelt, while 10.7 per cent were for excessive speeding, the ESSJ revealed.

Forty-eight per cent of the tickets, with fines totalling $456.9 million, were paid over to Tax Administration Jamaica by year-end while 4.3 per cent, with a value of $54.9 million, were settled in court.

The attorney told The Sunday Gleaner that a ruling in Housen’s favour would mean that the Government would have to establish a mechanism through which refunds would be paid.

However, the attorney said he “suspects” that the Government may be hoping that “most people can’t be bothered to seek a refund and that’s the end of the matter”.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com