As you know, I’ve been eagerly awaiting a resolution to the Kubosh lawsuit, which challenged the city’s right to install red light cameras and impose civil penalties for being caught by them running a red light. Today, Judge Sharolyn Wood handed down her ruling on the various motions for summary judgment, which you can see here (PDF). Basically, she denied all of Kubosh’s motions except ones having to do with the following:
1. The City of Houston’s failure to require or present properly authenticated evidence at the administrative adjudicative hearing.
2. The City of Houston’s imposition of a non-refundable fee to appeal the ruling from the administrative adjudicative hearing.
I’m not sure what #1 refers to, but #2 seems relatively minor. The next step is for the lawyers to sit down with the judge and hash out a deal. There’ll be a story in tomorrow’s Chron, so stay tuned.
Some places are trying to make parking tickets non-appealable. I think that and non-refundable appeal fees probably violate due process.