MA - Supreme Judicial Court screws residents by upholding a $275 court filing fee required to appeal parking tickets.

Motorists flummoxed by the $275 Superior Court filing fee required to challenge parking tickets, which rarely exceed $50, were dealt a blow Thursday by the Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled unanimously that the appeal fee is constitutional and doesn’t violate any “fundamental right.”

“There being no fundamental right at stake, the statute survives constitutional review if it is rationally related to a valid government interest,” Justice Robert Cordy wrote for the court.

Cordy acknowledged that the SJC is “not unmindful of the fact that Massachusetts imposes filing fees for judicial review of parking citations in excess of those imposed in most other States.” California, he noted, assesses $25, while Connecticut assesses $35.

“Massachusetts law, which requires an alleged parking violator to initially invest more than $275 before his dispute over a ticket may be reviewed by a judicial officer, violates the state constitutional guarantees of access to courts,” wrote William Newman, an ACLU lawyer representing Gillespie and Hamel, in a brief to the SJC. “Neither the financial barrier to judicial review nor the vesting of jurisdiction over parking tickets in the Superior Court serves a legitimate state objective.

There is no such a thing as a “reasonable non-refundable
fee” to exercise the right to defend one’s self in a legitimate
court of law. The right to defend one’s self is fundamental to
due process and must be unfettered, or as stated in the
Massachusetts Constitution, “freely” provided. Requiring the
payment of non-refundable fees for self-defense is like the poll
taxes that were once employed to hinder and discourage the
exercise of the fundamental right to vote.

The fundamental right to defend one’s self in court requires
particular solicitude when the defense is against state charges.

Appeals in Massachusetts parking cases are almost nonexistent
because the fee renders them virtually pointless.
Further, Massachusetts’ statutory scheme for the adjudication of
parking tickets represents a radical departure from those of the
rest of the states.

National Motorist Association Amicus Brief:
http://www.motorists.org/due-process-brief/due-process-brief.pdf

Link:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20110714court_upholds_275_court_filing_fee_required_to_appeal_parking_tickets/srvc=home&position=recent