It's not good enough that Photo-Cop is nearly dead.
The unpopular and purportedly Orwellian infringement on the rights of unsuspecting motorists should also have to return what it's taken, according to a suit filed this week in 3rd District Court.The action on behalf of four men nailed by automatic speed traps in Sandy and West Valley City asks that the plaintiffs be compensated for tickets that ranged from $30 to $50 apiece.
It alleges that in both cities leaders failed to properly notify the public of the presence of Photo-Cop and illegally delegated the decision of where to put the controversial technology.
The suit's implications are considerable because it asks the court to take the case as a class-action matter on behalf of 100,000 motorists who have received PhotoCop tickets since its introduction in West Valley City in 1991 and in Sandy last year.
Michael A. Jensen, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, says experience suggests he will win and that it will cost the two municipalities combined between $3 million and $5 million.
Jensen said this week he himself was a victim of PhotoCop in West Valley City in an experience that proved instructive. He went to court on his ticket and won on the same arguments he offers in the 3rd District Court suit.
Jensen said he opted to seek a class action after a number of clients came to him for help in fighting their PhotoCop citations.
"It's the only fair way to reach 100,000 people," he said, noting that a judge's approval is required before the suit can proceed as a class matter, however.
Attorneys for both cities reacted calmly.
"It's not what we consider a lawsuit of concern," said Sandy city attorney Wally Miller. He said the city offered adequate public notice and that it was within the law in letting its police department administer the program.
Similarly, West Valley attorney Paul Morris said leaders there followed state law in their use of PhotoCop.
The fate of the technology, used in only one other Utah town - Layton, has yet to be sealed but is likely to be decided soon.
The Legislature this year passed a measure outlawing it after members lambasted it as a form of government run amuck.
Gov. Mike Leavitt has yet to sign the bill, authored by Sen. Steve Rees, R-Bennion, but Leavitt's political sympathies would seem to favor its abolition.