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RICHMOND, Va. - A Henrico County judge declared the state's new abusive driver fees unconstitutional Thursday, likely triggering similar legal challenges in local courts.
General District Court Judge Archie Yeatts issued the ruling in the case of Anthony Price, who was facing his fifth charge of driving on a suspended license.
The fees have provoked outrage statewide because they apply only to Virginians.
With the decision, Yeatts ordered Henrico General District Court clerks not to collect civil remedial fees that can exceed $1,000 for certain driving offenses.
While Thursday's ruling is binding only in Henrico County, attorneys expect a domino effect of similar cases in other localities that could freeze collection of the fees while the law is under attack politically and in court.
It also comes days before another lawsuit by a conservative activist that will challenge not just the bad driving fees but the entire 2007 transportation funding package, which also includes increased statewide fee increases and new local taxes for the state's two most populous regions.
The ruling puts Price's case on a fast track toward the state Supreme Court. Its next stop is a Tuesday morning appeal hearing in Henrico County Circuit Court.
Price's attorney, Esther J. Windmueller, said numerous defense lawyers are eager to file constitutional challenges elsewhere, and Thursday's ruling will serve as a catalyst.
"I expect that as it becomes clear that people in Henrico no longer have to pay it, you'll have more cases filed pretty quickly," said Windmueller, a past president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
A similar case is set for a hearing Friday in Richmond General District Court.
Craig S. Cooley, who also represented Price, said judges also want to hear the cases for administrative reasons.
"From the courts' perspective, they've got a substantial bookkeeping issue here," Cooley said. "Do they have to return the fees that have already been collected? There's a huge amount of paperwork the clerks' offices would have to do or, later, undo.
"I have not talked to any judge who has felt this was a proper statutory creation," he said.
Yeatts ordered Henrico's court clerks not to discuss the case.
The nonresident exclusion was the basis for Price's appeal. His attorneys argued that it violates the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.
In his six-page ruling, Yeatts rejected the state's assertion that because the General Assembly had a rational basis for limiting the fees to Virginians, the law can't be struck down on grounds that it violates the 14th Amendment.
"Is there any rational speculation to support the distinction between residents and nonresident `dangerous' drivers where the stated purpose of the statute is to generate revenue?" Yeatts wrote
"A `dangerous' driver is a `dangerous' driver, whether he or she is a lifelong resident of Virginia or simply passing through," he added.
Chastened by furious voters slightly more than three months before November's elections and with continued Republican control of the legislature at stake, lawmakers from both parties have called for the bill's repeal, in a special session this year if necessary.
Others want legislation that would refund fees already collected.
Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, however, joined House Speaker William J. Howell and other Republican legislative leaders in defending the fees and calling for time to assess how effective the fees are and what remedies the law needs.
Kaine declined to comment on the ruling.
Howell said in a statement that Yeatts' decision surprised him.
"Prior to its passage by overwhelming bipartisan majorities of the legislature on April 4 of this year, the legislation was thoroughly and painstakingly reviewed by both the Kaine Administration and the office of the attorney general, among other legal experts," Howell's three-paragraph response said.
The fees were passed this year as part of the state's first new transportation funding package in 21 years. A projected $60 million from the fees eventually would be used for highway maintenance.
The surcharges, which range from $750 payable over three years for driving on a suspended license to $3,000 for felonious driving, could not be enacted as higher fines because the revenue would be limited to education. Instead, they were passed as "civil remedial fees," which can be earmarked for transportation, but which Virginia has little power to collect from nonresidents.
By next week, former state Republican Chairman Patrick McSweeney said he plans to file a broader legal challenge against the entire transportation
RICHMOND, Va. - A Henrico County judge declared the state's new abusive driver fees unconstitutional Thursday, likely triggering similar legal challenges in local courts.
General District Court Judge Archie Yeatts issued the ruling in the case of Anthony Price, who was facing his fifth charge of driving on a suspended license.
The fees have provoked outrage statewide because they apply only to Virginians.
With the decision, Yeatts ordered Henrico General District Court clerks not to collect civil remedial fees that can exceed $1,000 for certain driving offenses.
While Thursday's ruling is binding only in Henrico County, attorneys expect a domino effect of similar cases in other localities that could freeze collection of the fees while the law is under attack politically and in court.
It also comes days before another lawsuit by a conservative activist that will challenge not just the bad driving fees but the entire 2007 transportation funding package, which also includes increased statewide fee increases and new local taxes for the state's two most populous regions.
The ruling puts Price's case on a fast track toward the state Supreme Court. Its next stop is a Tuesday morning appeal hearing in Henrico County Circuit Court.
Price's attorney, Esther J. Windmueller, said numerous defense lawyers are eager to file constitutional challenges elsewhere, and Thursday's ruling will serve as a catalyst.
"I expect that as it becomes clear that people in Henrico no longer have to pay it, you'll have more cases filed pretty quickly," said Windmueller, a past president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
A similar case is set for a hearing Friday in Richmond General District Court.
Craig S. Cooley, who also represented Price, said judges also want to hear the cases for administrative reasons.
"From the courts' perspective, they've got a substantial bookkeeping issue here," Cooley said. "Do they have to return the fees that have already been collected? There's a huge amount of paperwork the clerks' offices would have to do or, later, undo.
"I have not talked to any judge who has felt this was a proper statutory creation," he said.
Yeatts ordered Henrico's court clerks not to discuss the case.
The nonresident exclusion was the basis for Price's appeal. His attorneys argued that it violates the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.
In his six-page ruling, Yeatts rejected the state's assertion that because the General Assembly had a rational basis for limiting the fees to Virginians, the law can't be struck down on grounds that it violates the 14th Amendment.
"Is there any rational speculation to support the distinction between residents and nonresident `dangerous' drivers where the stated purpose of the statute is to generate revenue?" Yeatts wrote
"A `dangerous' driver is a `dangerous' driver, whether he or she is a lifelong resident of Virginia or simply passing through," he added.
Chastened by furious voters slightly more than three months before November's elections and with continued Republican control of the legislature at stake, lawmakers from both parties have called for the bill's repeal, in a special session this year if necessary.
Others want legislation that would refund fees already collected.
Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, however, joined House Speaker William J. Howell and other Republican legislative leaders in defending the fees and calling for time to assess how effective the fees are and what remedies the law needs.
Kaine declined to comment on the ruling.
Howell said in a statement that Yeatts' decision surprised him.
"Prior to its passage by overwhelming bipartisan majorities of the legislature on April 4 of this year, the legislation was thoroughly and painstakingly reviewed by both the Kaine Administration and the office of the attorney general, among other legal experts," Howell's three-paragraph response said.
The fees were passed this year as part of the state's first new transportation funding package in 21 years. A projected $60 million from the fees eventually would be used for highway maintenance.
The surcharges, which range from $750 payable over three years for driving on a suspended license to $3,000 for felonious driving, could not be enacted as higher fines because the revenue would be limited to education. Instead, they were passed as "civil remedial fees," which can be earmarked for transportation, but which Virginia has little power to collect from nonresidents.
By next week, former state Republican Chairman Patrick McSweeney said he plans to file a broader legal challenge against the entire transportation
