A WOMAN has taken her city to court over code violation fines that she said went too far.
Hilda Brucker from Doraville, Georgia - 19 minutes northeast of Atlanta - arrived at a courthouse in October 2016 expecting to have to clear a ticket.
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However, upon her arrival, Brucker was put in front of a judge and prosecutor and she was accused of violating city code due to cracks in her driveway.
The homeowner was shocked to hear about the issue as there had been no notification of any wrongdoing.
She was fined $100 and given six months criminal probation.
Though the charges against her were dropped, Brucker told Fox News that the city had gone "too far" in punishing her for her driveway and she decided to take action.
"It was just absolutely horrifying for someone like me who never even had a detention in high school," Brucker said.
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"I didn’t want it to happen to me again, and I didn’t want it to happen to anyone else either."
Three other residents took umbrage with Doraville's allegedly overzealous code enforcement and they joined Brucker in an Institute for Justice lawsuit against the city.
Fellow Doraville resident Jeff Thornton joined the suit after he was fined $1,000 and threatened with an arrest warrant because of a "disorganized" pile of wood in his backyard.
The lawsuit claimed that Doraville was "using its law enforcement and municipal court system for revenue generation" by handing out large fines for minor code violations.
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According to the filing, around 25% of the city's operating budget comes from fees and fines and between August 2016 and August 2017, it made around $3.8 million in fines.
"It’s unconstitutional because it creates a financial incentive for the city government … to ticket people," IJ attorney Josh House told Fox News.
In addition to this, the suit claimed that there were biases among prosecutors and law enforcement which "have a financial interest in convicting the defendant," because they are paid from Doraville's revenue.
While the charges against Thornton were dropped, he "lives under the threat of being ticketed again by Doraville code enforcement and law enforcement and convicted by Doraville's municipal court personnel," according to the lawsuit.
Other members of the legal action included those who pass through the city and claim to have been fined excessively.
Janice Craig was fined $215 for holding up traffic while switching lanes as she drove through Doraville.
Doraville’s policies "place a huge burden on not only the homeowners but those who are in the area driving and have to think about, ‘Am I going to cross the border into this town and be subject to a rapacious law enforcement?’" House said.
"Is driving through Doraville something I can afford today?"
A five-year legal battle ensued with an initial dismissal from the court of the city's motion to have the case dismissed.
However, it became apparent that the plaintiffs could not provide sufficient facts to establish a substantial conflict of interest in regard to their claim that court personnel were financially incentivized to convict defendants.
The court ruled that showing how much revenue comes from fines and fees does not prove a conflict of interest as it fails to show a "possible temptation to forsake [the judge’s] obligation of impartiality."
Secondly, the claim that the city's prosecutors and law enforcement were equally incentivized by finances was also dismissed by the court due to insufficient evidence.
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The judge granted the city a summary judgment, dismissing the claims of the plaintiffs.
On June 24, 2022, the 11 Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the claims made in the lawsuit.
