New York City Hit with Class Action Over Alleged ‘Ticket Stacking’ for Commercial Vehicles

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New York City faces a proposed class action over its alleged practice of knowingly issuing parking tickets to “unaltered” commercial vehicles before issuing a companion summons that “impossibly” alleges the same vehicle is non-commercial and illegally parked in a commercial zone. 

The 38-page complaint against the city and its police department and department of finance alleges the NYPD’s practice of issuing $115 parking tickets for “unaltered commercial vehicle” status violations “violates the same laws Defendants claim to be enforcing,” in particular those which authorize a fine of not more than $50 for unaltered commercial vehicle violations. 

The case contends that the damage effectuated by the foregoing is “further exacerbated” by the defendants’ apparent practice of applying the same “commercial vehicle” definition to issue an initial $115 ticket for parking an “unaltered commercial vehicle” and then issuing a second $115 “companion summons,” which, per the case, impossibly alleges that the same vehicle is also a non-commercial vehicle parked illegally in a commercial zone. 

The lawsuit alleges New York has issued tens of millions of dollars in illegal and unconstitutional tickets, in particular more than 250,000 “unaltered commercial vehicle tickets.” 

“It is unclear to Plaintiffs, and an objective of this lawsuit to determine how Defendants could have made a good faith decision to systematically assess excessive fines for objectively impossible conduct and/or alleged violations that permit ‘not more than fifty dollars’ in fines,” the complaint reads. 

According to the suit, New York City requires that every commercial vehicle parked or operated on city streets be altered to remove all seats, excluding front seats, and permanently display the name and address of the owner on both sides of the vehicle under threat of fines or imprisonment. Per the lawsuit, drivers who refuse to make alternations to their vehicles and/or pay the allegedly illegal tickets are subject to potential penalties, including interest, vehicle booting, registration suspensions, impoundment and/or having their vehicles sold at impound auctions.

“The City’s vehicle alteration requirements protect its own local economic interests and unfairly burden commerce by discriminating against both out-of-state and out-of-town (but in-state) vehicles, making joint compliance impossible for many drivers subject to conflicting regulatory requirements,” the case contends. 

The suit goes on to allege the city regularly treats drivers who have the time and means to dispute a commercial vehicle ticket in the same way it treats “drivers without such means.” Per the complaint, parking ticket hearings “systematically” uphold and order drivers to pay both the unaltered commercial vehicle ticket and additional companion summons. 

Named as defendants alongside the city and NYPD are Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Finance Treasury & Payment Services Jeffrey Shear, who oversees the Collections and Parking Summons Adjudication divisions, and Mary Gotsopoulis, the city Department of Finance’s chief administrative law judge.

The lawsuit looks to represent all vehicle owners/operators and other persons and entities who, on or after November 12, 2013, received at least one NYC “unaltered commercial vehicle” summons. The case also proposes to cover all vehicle owners/operators and other persons and entities who, on or after November 12, 2013, received at least one NYC summons predicated upon non-commercial vehicle status and, within seven calendar days of said non-commercial summons issuance, also received at least one “companion summons” predicated upon the same vehicle’s commercial status. 

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