N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law 241-A – Complaint procedure for satisfied or wrongfully imposed fine or penalty
§ 241-a. Complaint procedure for satisfied or wrongfully imposed fine or penalty. 1. (a) Every city with a population of more than one million inhabitants that has established a parking violations bureau shall establish, within such bureau, a properly staffed complaint unit of public service representatives to respond to complaints from any person who, after having satisfied, by payment, adjudication, or administrative action, any fine or penalty for a parking violation or after having proven that a fine or penalty was wrongfully imposed on this person, receives a demand for payment of the fine or penalty previously satisfied or wrongfully imposed, or is denied any registration or renewal application by the department of motor vehicles upon a certification from such parking violations bureau based upon lack of payment of any fine or penalty previously satisfied or wrongfully imposed. The complaint unit established under this section shall accept complaints either in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested. Each written demand for payment, other than the first demand following issuance of the notice of violation, shall advise the addressee of the existence of the complaint unit and the procedure for submitting a complaint. Upon receipt of a complaint, if in person, or within ten work days after receipt of a complaint if by mail, the complaint unit shall acknowledge receipt in writing and notify the complainant of the procedure for further review. The complaint unit shall, within thirty days after receiving a complaint in person or by certified mail supported by the proof prescribed by this section, notify the complainant that the payment has been credited to his or her record; that the wrongful imposition has been removed from the complainant's record; or that the information sent to the bureau fails to prove that the fine or penalty was satisfied or that the imposition was wrongful, in which case the reason or reasons shall be set forth.
Terms Used In N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law 241-A
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Notice of violation: means a notice of violation as defined in subdivision nine of section two hundred thirty-seven of this article, but shall not be deemed to include a notice of liability issued pursuant to authorization set forth in articles ten, twenty-four, twenty-nine and thirty of this chapter, § 2985 of the public authorities law and sections sixteen-a, sixteen-b and sixteen-c of chapter seven hundred seventy-four of the laws of nineteen hundred fifty to impose monetary liability on the owner of a vehicle for failure of an operator thereof: to comply with traffic-control indications in violation of subdivision (d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this chapter through the installation and operation of traffic-control signal photo violation-monitoring systems, in accordance with article twenty-four of this chapter; or to comply with certain posted maximum speed limits in violation of subdivision (b), (c), (d), (f) or (g) of section eleven hundred eighty of this chapter through the installation and operation of photo speed violation monitoring systems, in accordance with article thirty of this chapter; or to comply with bus lane restrictions as defined by article twenty-four of this chapter through the installation and operation of bus lane photo devices, in accordance with article twenty-four of this chapter; or to comply with toll collection regulations of certain public authorities through the installation and operation of photo-monitoring systems, in accordance with the provisions of § 2985 of the public authorities law and sections sixteen-a, sixteen-b and sixteen-c of chapter seven hundred seventy-four of the laws of nineteen hundred fifty; or to stop for a school bus displaying a red visual signal in violation of section eleven hundred seventy-four of this chapter through the installation and operation of school bus photo violation monitoring systems, in accordance with article twenty-nine of this chapter, or to comply with certain posted maximum speed limits in violation of subdivision (b), (d), (f) or (g) of section eleven hundred eighty of this chapter within a highway construction or maintenance work area through the installation and operation of photo speed violation monitoring systems, in accordance with article thirty of this chapter; or to comply with gross vehicle weight and/or axle weight restrictions in violation of section three hundred eighty-five of this chapter and the rules of the department of transportation of the city of New York through the installation and operation of weigh in motion violation monitoring systems, in accordance with article ten of this chapter. See N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law 239
- Vehicle: means a vehicle as defined in section one hundred fifty-nine of this chapter. See N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law 239
(b) If, after this thirty day period, the bureau continues to demand payment from this person of the fine or penalty previously satisfied or wrongfully imposed, or if the bureau does not render a determination, the person within six months from the date of his or her complaint shall have the right to an expedited review before a panel of three administrative law judges. Such panel shall be empowered to compel the bureau to produce records and other evidence relevant and material to the complaint. The complainant shall be required to submit, together with his or her request for a review, a copy of all the materials submitted with the original complaint. The panel of administrative law judges shall be empowered to direct that the bureau's records be changed, as appropriate, to insure that no further demand is made for the fine or penalty previously satisfied or wrongfully imposed, and the bureau shall comply with such directive. Further, the panel of administrative law judges, upon petition by the complainant, may at its sole discretion, direct the parking violations bureau to pay the complainant who receives a wrongfully imposed fine or has previously satisfied an outstanding fine such out-of-pocket expenses as the panel deems reasonable only in such cases where the complainant sufficiently demonstrates that he or she has notified the bureau of his or her complaint under this section and the bureau has failed, in the panel's opinion, to remove the wrongfully imposed fine or the previously satisfied fine; however, payment of such expenses shall not exceed the amount of the original fine.
(c) Any other city authorized to establish a parking violations bureau may create a panel to resolve complaints relating to satisfied penalties and wrongfully imposed penalties. The composition of such a panel shall be determined by local option.
2. This section shall not apply to parking violation fines or penalties relating to commercial, taxi, common or contract carriers or livery vehicles.
3. In cities required to create a review panel under this section, the parking violations bureau shall keep a record of all complaints submitted under this section for a minimum of three years, and shall issue a public report every year containing the number of complaints heard each year according to category, the number of dispositions favorable to complainants, the average compensation awarded in such favorable dispositions, and any other appropriate information. Such information shall also be published annually and placed in the municipal reference library, in such cities where applicable.
4. The proof that must be submitted in connection with a complaint made under this section is, as appropriate, a copy of the receipt, money order or front and back of cancelled check; a copy of a police report of stolen vehicle or stolen or lost plates or proof of an insurance company payment for a stolen vehicle, or a department of motor vehicles receipt for surrendered plates. As used in this section, a "wrongfully imposed" fine or penalty shall mean a fine or penalty which is imposed after the respective vehicle has been stolen or after the license plates were stolen, lost or surrendered to the department of motor vehicles.
5. Every such parking violations bureau shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations not inconsistent with any applicable provision of law, to carry out the purposes of this section.