Van Harken v. City Of Chicago

103 F.3d 1346 (7th Cir. 1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In a majority of the states, parking violations were and are technically criminal violations even when the maximum punishment is a modest fine. A number of states, have decriminalized parking violations and substituted a civil penalty system. In 1990, D decided to decriminalize its parking fines. The parking ticket the officer writes is prima facie evidence of a violation. The owner of the car can either pay the fine written on the ticket (which cannot exceed $100) or challenge the ticket either in writing or in person. The challenges are adjudicated by private lawyers whom D hires as part-time hearing officers. The police officer is not expected to participate in the hearing, other than through the ticket itself, which is treated as the equivalent of an affidavit. The hearing officers are directed to conduct a searching cross-examination. The hearing officer can subpoena witnesses (including, of course, the police officer who wrote the ticket), and can consider any documentary evidence (photographs, for example) submitted by the defendant. The hearing is recorded. If the hearing officer finds a violation and imposes a fine, the defendant can seek judicial review in the Circuit Court of Cook County upon the payment of the normal fee for filing a case in that court, which is $200. D adopted a new system for the adjudication of parking violations. Chi. Munic. Code ch. 9-100. Ps challenged this new system in a class action on behalf of persons who, either having been adjudged liable for a parking violation in contested proceedings under the new procedures and paid their fines or having received a parking ticket and still having time to contest it, claim that the new procedures violate the due process clauses of the United States and Illinois constitutions. The district judge dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim under either constitution. P appealed.