Stow Municipal Court Will No Longer Charge Drivers $100 to Appeal Tickets

Drivers allegedly caught speeding through Peninsula will no longer have to pay $100 to debate it Credit: Village of Peninsula

After a months long battle led by a Washington, D.C.-based law firm, Stow Municipal Court agreed in late December to eliminate its mandatory $100 fee for drivers contesting traffic violations.

The Institute of Justice, which has also argued against such fees in New York, Delaware and Illinois, said drivers busted speeding through Peninsula or the Cuyahoga Valley National Park will be able to appeal their case without possibly doubling court costs.

The Stow Court, located off State Route 8, handles some 20,000 cases a year for 16 cities and villages across Summit County, all of which will be impacted by Thursday’s order.

An attorney for the Institute, Bobby Taylor, found that Peninsula police handed out some 8,900 tickets since getting new handheld speed cameras in April. Taylor estimated the new tech gave Peninsula roughly $1.3 million in revenue, not including the added court dollars from “filing fees.” It’s unclear how many of those tickets were contested.

“These staggering numbers raise concern that the village’s ticketing is nothing more than a policing-for-profit scheme,” a statement provided by the Institute read.

A spokesperson for the Institute for Justice deferred to the Stow Municipal Court when asked methodology questions. The court, along with Peninsula Mayor Daniel Schneider, Jr., did not respond to calls for comment. “I don’t think we’re making any comments at this time,” a secretary for Schneider told Scene.

Arguments for the removal of the court’s “unconstitutional” fine come, it seems, from current Ohio law, which states that a court will keep an individual’s payments before a case and “shall not charge to the registered owner or designated party any court costs and fees for the civil action.”

It’s what Taylor zeroed in on in their November 27 letter to Schneider, Police Chief Jay Nagy and six member of Peninsula council: the $100 is only returned to the driver if he or she succeeds in their appeal.

“Essentially,” Taylor argued, “this is a fee charged for the right to defend oneself in court.”

It’s unclear to what extent Peninsular villagers bemoaned the court’s extraneous fees.

Meeting notes for a council meeting December 5 don’t mention Taylor’s letter. Public commenters at the November 14 meeting touched on speed limit changes on State Route 303, which runs through town, and their issues with Lexipol, a police policy management firm hired by the police department to ensure its “policies are … in compliance with state and federal law.”

This may, however, put a slight ding in Stow Municipal Court’s budget books. After all, according to its website, its shiny new building on Route 8 and Steels Corners Road was “paid for with court fees.”

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