Stow court suspends $100 fee to appeal Peninsula speeding tickets
Those wishing to appeal their Peninsula speeding tickets in the Stow Municipal Court will no longer have to pay a $100 fee to do so.
On Tuesday, Judge Kim Hoover posted a court order suspending the $100 appeal filing fee until further notice.
Last month, the Institute for Justice sent a letter to Peninsula officials, calling on the village to change a traffic enforcement system that the nonprofit contends violates motorists' constitutional rights — particularly their right to due process. The organization also called upon the Stow Municipal Court to drop its $100 fee associated with speeding ticket appeals.
“We are pleased that the Stow Municipal Court has suspended its unconstitutional $100 fee for the right to contest a traffic violation,” said Bobbi Taylor, Institute for Justice litigation fellow. “We hope that this ‘suspension’ will become a permanent protection of the constitutional right to due process.”
According to a media release sent by the Institute for Justice on Thursday, since the late spring of 2023, Peninsula police officers have used handheld speed cameras to issue thousands of speeding tickets, netting hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Drivers wanting to contest their ticket were then forced to pay a $100 fee to the Stow Municipal Court.
The fee was required for all traffic camera citations in the court's jurisdiction, according to information from the Stow Municipal Court. If the appeal fails, the fee is not refunded. Peninsula is the only community within the Stow Municipal Court's jurisdiction to use traffic cameras, said Rick Klinger, court administrator.
The court serves 16 communities in northern Summit County, including Boston Heights, Boston Township, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Macedonia, Munroe Falls, Northfield, Northfield Center Township, Peninsula, Reminderville, Sagamore Hills, Silver Lake, Stow, Tallmadge, Twinsburg and Twinsburg Township.
History: Nonprofit law firm urges end of $100 fee to contest Peninsulaspeeding tickets
Reporter April Helms can be reached at ahelms@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Stow court halts appeals fee applied to tickets from Peninsula, beyond
