Suing the City for Unfair Parking Law Enforcement - Opinions please! (Manhattan Beach: exemptions, moving)

[yoyoma02]

Originally Posted by 1200RT

It is not the city's responsibility to make you aware of their laws, nor post signs to alert you that you must move your car.

Um, yes it is. The City has to have clearly marked signs for parking.

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by yoyoma02

Um, yes it is. The City has to have clearly marked signs for parking.

It does.

2 Hour Parking = 2 Hour Parking. It means you can occupy a spot for 2 hours, they you must vacate, move on, or otherwise make available the spot for other parkers.

Not "unlimited parking, as long as the meter is filled, with a 2 hour limit on the meter".

This is a standardized 2 hour parking sign, approved by both LADOT and the CAMUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices), and in use in the City of LA, including Sherman Oaks, likely the sign displayed on the block the OP was ticked on. The signs were adapted from the Federal MUTCD, and can be found used in nearly all 50 states.

I think its safe to say that the city employs clearly marked signs, and the OP's ignorance of the signs, the city's muni code, and quite simply, common sense led him to be cited.

Here is a list of CA approved parking signs, snipped from the CAMUTCD, which is mostly adapted from the Fed version. What exactly is unclear?

[Cubancoffee]

I think you should hire the most expensive lawyer you can find and sue everybody you can think of.

Please let us know how you make out.

[TurcoLoco]

I agree 100% the parking is a mess in this city/county.
Good luck with suing the city on something like this because it is a major revenue generator, they are not going to let it go.
2-Hour parking implies the vehicle to be moved after 2 hours, hence the cap. Why else would they cap the time like that? Why some parking meters are for 20 minutes and some are for 30 mins, some for an hour, etc.? The streets within close proximity of how consumer traffic or retail business are probably behind the time restriction more than the city. They want people to come and be able to park for a short amount of time, enough for what an average consumer would need, then get in their vehicle and move so others can come too.

I know typically the signs may not be explicit or clear but again, most everyone either knows or can take an educated guess as to why the time was capped.

Now the debating part. How did they know you didn't move the vehicle after 2 hours, did they mark the tires or something like that? If there was no indicator, then you might have a better chance fighting the citation.

Perhaps next time, you all could meet some place where parking is not an issue, hop on a (leased/rented) bus and drive down there as one vehicle?

[wall st kid]

Originally Posted by 1200RT

There is a specific muni code addressing this very topic. I posted it above. There is no "great case" here. Having money in the meter is moot, and I highly doubt anyone "guessed" that the car was there for more than two hours, its highly likely that it was observed not moving, and then cited.

Furthermore, good luck finding a "good lawyer" to sue the city. What technicalities do you see? The parking or police officer to who cited the cars will testify under oath he observed the car in the spot for longer than 2 hours, which, for what its worth they have been trained, at length to legally swear to. The OP will then be asked under oath if he moved his car. He will (a)tell the truth or (b)perjure himself. The judge will then ask all the rest of his film crew - who would then all have to perjure themselves, all to get out of parking tickets written well within the city's laws? The court could then look at security camera footage of the street, interview outside witnesses and consider other evidence to justify this lawsuit. Then of course, the court would just need to track down this thread, where the OP admitted to violating the law (ignorance of the law, is of course, not a defense), and they could all go to jail for perjury. All of that is highly unlikely, however, because we're talking about LAWFULLY WRITTEN PARKING CITATIONS, which will not go anywhere if contested. Parking tickets, folks. parking tickets. For blocking an entire block for a film shoot.

Holy Hell. Get a grip folks. And next time, just apply for a film permit. LADOT

The only way he could know if the car was parked there for 120 consecutive minutes would be if he was there the entire time. Otherwise, he wont know if the cars were moved briefly out of the spots or not.

As far as under oath or perjury goes, this isnt a criminal murder trial with a jury, its just a guy saying that he moved his cars because he didnt want to break the rules.

[wall st kid]

Originally Posted by 1200RT

It does.

2 Hour Parking = 2 Hour Parking. It means you can occupy a spot for 2 hours, they you must vacate, move on, or otherwise make available the spot for other parkers.

Not "unlimited parking, as long as the meter is filled, with a 2 hour limit on the meter".

This is a standardized 2 hour parking sign, approved by both LADOT and the CAMUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices), and in use in the City of LA, including Sherman Oaks, likely the sign displayed on the block the OP was ticked on. The signs were adapted from the Federal MUTCD, and can be found used in nearly all 50 states.

I think its safe to say that the city employs clearly marked signs, and the OP's ignorance of the signs, the city's muni code, and quite simply, common sense led him to be cited.

Here is a list of CA approved parking signs, snipped from the CAMUTCD, which is mostly adapted from the Fed version. What exactly is unclear?

It doesnt indicate that you can't drive out of the spot and repark in the same spot to 'reset' the 2 hour 'timer'.

Also, what does 'they you must vacate' mean? I dont get it.

[tgauchsin]

So let me see if I understand this correctly. You're an independent film producer. You blocked off MANY parking spaces for your cast and crew to park along busy Ventura Blvd - depriving those business with a place for their customers to park. You did this because either, you are ignorant of parking laws, ignorant that a film permit could have served you better or you decided that feeding the meter all day was cheaper than paying for a film permit. You got caught breaking the law, found out how much it is going to cost you for those MANY parking tickets and now you are "seriously considering filing a class action against the city."

Seriously? Good luck with that.

I do know of some lawyers who would be more than happy to help you out. In fact, they work right there on Ventura Blvd. They will not work on contingency with this case. A big ole retainer is required.

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by wall st kid

The only way he could know if the car was parked there for 120 consecutive minutes would be if he was there the entire time. Otherwise, he wont know if the cars were moved briefly out of the spots or not.

As far as under oath or perjury goes, this isnt a criminal murder trial with a jury, its just a guy saying that he moved his cars because he didnt want to break the rules.

Originally Posted by wall st kid

It doesnt indicate that you can't drive out of the spot and repark in the same spot to 'reset' the 2 hour 'timer'.

Also, what does 'they you must vacate' mean? I dont get it.

*that you must vacate.

I don't think we need to go round and round about this, parking officers are trained to observe vehicles parked for longer than the posted limit. Very simple concept here. There are other ways to verify a cars presence longer than 2 hours other than staring at it for the entire time.

We also don't need to speculate about perjury, I was being sarcastic, clearly, as this will never go to trail. He already told us he didn't move his car(s). The tickets were lawful. He would have to lie to a judge for them to be dismissed, hence me bringing it up.

Lastly you're right, nothing to indicate you can't vacate a spot and re-park. We already put that to rest earlier in this thread. But, alas, that isn't what happened here, by the OP's own admission - so it really doesn't matter.


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[MD Tech]

Good Day:

I had my motor home towed away for overdue parking tickets.
I had written a letter to the supervisor. It went under investigation and I got the "Letter Of Error" and was told that my tickets were dismissed.
Here is the real bad part, I asked them to notify the towing company of the change and that the tickets were dismissed and to please have them bring it back to my location where I live.
I had to wait a week for them to get it all together and I went to towing company to pick it up myself.
WARNING......SHOCK NOTICE!
I was told it was auctioned off a week before I received the "Letter Of Error."
Now I am out a motor home. It has been my home for 3 years and a secure place I can be safe in in case of an emergency or crisis in home issue.
I am trying to get a lawyer to take it to Federal Court for "Illegal Search and Seizure."

[BennyPhoenix]

It says 2hour parking. The meter is irrelevant.