Last Updated on March 2, 2018 by Lawrence Berezin
In Parking Ticket Land, it is the rule to live by in Parking Ticket Land
Parking ticket lurking. It was 11:00 p.m. on February 12, 2011, when Joe pulled into a parking space near his home. What he failed to realize after a long day at work was that a tiny portion of his chariot extended into a No Standing zone. The next morning when Joe returned to his car he found a parking ticket stuck under his wiper. No-Standing $115. Joe was wrong. He parked illegally (Wrong #1)
Joe grabbed the evil orange epistle, crumpled it up into a ball, tossed it into the back seat and drove to work. Later that day Joe retrieved the crumpled ball in the back seat and examined it for omitted, misdescribed and illegible required elements. Lo and behold, Joe found some NYC parking ticket gold. A misdescribed body type.
The body type was “SUBN” on his vehicle registered in Massachusetts, but the warrior entered “4DSD.” The warrior was wrong. (Wrong #2).
Joe fights his parking ticket and wins
Joe prepared a detailed defense certification and four exhibits raising misdescribed body type as a defense. He fought his ticket online. 10 days later the parking ticket was dismissed.
Two wrongs made a right in The “Land.”
Commentary
There are two important takeaways from this story:
- Never, ever pay an NYC parking ticket no questions asked. Look for omitted, misdescribed and illegible required elements and substantive defenses
- The misdescribed body type defense for out-of-state vehicles is a bit more complicated than you might suspect
Parking ticket judges can be arbitrary when applying the NYC “reasonably accurate” standard to a misdescribed body type. There has been a wave of decisions holding that a 4DSD is a reasonably accurate description of an “SUBN.” That is not reasonable.
Here’s how I handled the unreasonable application of the “reasonably accurate” standard:
I had this problem a car was parked in front of my garage which in turn block exit of garaged vehicles. Sign was clearly posted “No parking” and curb is legally cut. The car booted has no relationship to my building owner said he was making delivery. The car was not towed for two days therefore the loss of the vehicle use and and other expenses were incurred until the vehicle was removed.
Payloc stated they installed the boot on the street , all they offered was their apology
Is installing a boot in front of active driveway legal by the Agent Payloc regardless of the hardship incurred by others
Michael,
Good morning.
It is absurd to boot a car (immobilize it) that’s blocking an active driveway.
I despise booting/towing for parking tickets (unless it’s necessary for public safety or to unblock a rude driver who blocks a driveway).
I’m sorry to say that beyond the “apology” I don’t know what other action you can take that makes economic sense.
Best,
Larry
Hi Larry,
I have a quick question for you. I apologize for bringing it up here, but I couldn’t figure out how else to contact you.
With respect to non-commercial vehicles, what is the correct interpretation of the following 2 signs positioned atop one another?
Sign 1: 3 HOUR METERED PARKING COMMERCIAL VEHICLES ONLY OTHERS NO STANDING 7AM-7PM EXCEPT SUNDAY
Sign 2: OTHER TIMES NO STANDING
I parked on a Sunday and was given a $115 No-Standing ticket, as were a line of cars parked along with me. Since Sunday was expressly mentioned in the top sign, I (we) interpreted the “Other Times” referenced in the bottom sign to mean 7pm to 7am Mon-Sat., and NOT Sunday, since Sunday was expressly carved out in the above sign.
Any insights you have would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for your help,
JS
J,
Good morning.
No need to apologize.
‘X’ marks the spot when you have a question.
You found the right place.
Sign 1 is a normal, garden-variety, redesigned No Standing Commercial Meter Parking during certain hours. It’s Sign 2 that lying in wait to ambush you and take your money.
Applying the “stricter sign trumps the less restrictive sign” construction, I interpret this confusing appended sign (#2) to mean no standing for non-commercial vehicles all days/all times. Sign 2 trumps Sign 1 for the portion of the rule that permits non-commercial vehicle parking before 7A and after 7P and on Sunday.
Applying the “rather be safe than sorry and lose my money” construction, I would stay away from any parking space regulated by those two signs while driving a non-commercial vehicle.
Good luck.
Regards,
Larry
Thanks so much, Larry! Here’s the interesting caveat. When I found the ticket on my car, I immediately took 2 photos before my phone ran out of battery, capturing both my car and the sign, which I was parked directly beneath. I included the photos along with my explanation that, since Sunday was expressly carved out in the top sign, the “Other Times” referred to on the bottom sign logically referred to Mon.-Sat., 7pm-7am, and NOT Sunday.
I submitted my online appeal to this effect, and this is the response I received a few weeks later:
Violation Decisions: SIGN INCNSIS W/SUMM/EVDNC NOT CRDBL
The respondent has been charged with violating Traffic Rule 4-08(c) by standing or parking a vehicle where standing a vehicle is prohibited by signs, markings or traffic-control devices. Respondent’s offer of photo of sign which differs from sign described in summons is unpersuasive where photo fails to establish summons address.
That response seems to concede my point that the sign I was beneath “differed from sign described in summons”, but upheld the violation on the grounds that the location of the sign was not clear in the photo I submitted. Of course, this argument is LUDICROUS in light of the fact that the DOT maintains a website showing the location of every parking sign in the city, and it would have taken the admin. judge all of 30 seconds to confirm.
Since I subsequently broke my leg (and my case seems to be a no-brainer), my next appeal was submitted by mail. I had my wife take a whole series of photographs (on a Sunday) showing the sign, the location, etc., not to mention a whole row of un-ticketed passenger cars parking all the way down the block. Several weeks later, I received a terse, one line response: “After review, we find no reversible error in the decision below and affirm.” The form included three completely illegible signatures and completely illegible ID#’s for the three admin. judges who adjudicated my case.
When I called to try to figure out what recourse I had at that point, a woman in the dept. of finance told me I could go down to 66 John St. to speak to someone in person. And so, earlier this week, I hobbled down there on my recovering leg, only to discover I hd completely wasted my time. I got passed among 6 low level bureaucrats, 4 of whom were unbelievably obnoxious as they told me “You’ve already appealed twice. There’s nothing we can do.”
The nastiness of these people was really the icing on the cake for this whole, appalling experience.
As a last-ditch effort, I have contacted the NYC DOT Commissioner with the particulars of my case. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Thanks again for your above response…this website is a great resource.
Best,
Jamie
P.S. The “Other Tmes No Standing” sign on the bottom was white with red lettering, not one of those red with white lettering signs of death, if that makes any difference.
Hi Larry thanks for all the help! I was wondering if u could give us some insight on red light cameras is there any way to beat them? Do they have required elements and the like?
Larry,
I owe $2,000 in parking fines from 2011 when I was living in NYC and my car was registered in New York. I then took up residence in another state and registered my vehicle there. Now that I am back in NYC with out-of-state plates, can my vehicle still be towed or booted? Will the finance dept approve me for an installment plan if my car is no longer registered under the plates I had when the tickets were issued? Thanks for your advice.
Dear Mayer,
Good morning.
Welcome back, pilgrim.
1. My best guess is that parking fines chase after plates, not people. I don’t think your out-of-state plates will be subject to boot/tow, but I’m not certain.
2. My best guess is that the Evil Empire will welcome you with open arms since you currently reside in NYC. My concern is whether parking fines that date back to 2011 are eligible for a payment plan
Sorry, I can’t provide you with a more definitive answer.
Good luck.
Regards,
Larry
Hi Larry, Recently my brother was parked in Queens near CUNY Law School and car was improperly ticketed and towed for supposedly being parked in a bus stop. In fact, he was parked more than 150 feet from the bus stop and agfter a no parking on mondays sign but he was still ticketed. I know the bus stop rule is that the bus stop extends from the first bus stop sign until the next sign (in his case, no parking on mondays) or if there is no second sign then then it extends to the end of the block. When my brother came back for his car a cemetary worker told him that a car was just towed 5 minutes ago. My brother noticed that cars behind him were also ticketed but were not towed. My brother went before the official hearing date and saw a judge and had his case heard without the Traffic Enforcement Officer present and after showing his evidence to the judge the judge ruled against him. The judge said Google map photos could have been old and the other photos don’t show where the car was parked. His evidence was not “persuasive”. Days later my brother confronted another Traffic Agent who was giving other cars parked outside the bus stop, and when he asked the agent why she was issuing bus stop summonses when the cars were parked past the second sign after the bus stop sign, the agent made up some double talk saying sometimes two buses park in the bus stop. Clearly, the agents are illegally issuing tickets for fictious violations to fill their daily ticket quoter. Should my brother file an Article 78 to challenge the bus stop signage as being violative of due procesd for lack of notice and for abuse of discretion among other things. How can he stop the ticket quota?? Thank you
Hi, Robert,
I am not going to be answering any more blog comments at the present time. I hope the old batteries recharge during the next few months.
Regards,
Larry