PHILADELPHIA - Lawyers who took on Upper Darby's parking-ticket enforcement are asking for more than $400,000 from a settlement they call an "excellent result."
Ruben Honik and David Stanoch of Honik LLC filed their motion for fees on March 20 in Philadelphia federal court. Though original figures showed Upper Darby Township would pay $800,000 to resolve the claims of motorists who were given tickets but unable to contest them, the lawyers say the value of the settlement is an extra $559,760 for canceled pending tickets.
"Thus, the total value the settlement creates for the class is $1,359,760," Honik wrote in asking for 30%, plus costs.
All totaled, the lawyers are asking for $414,432. Upper Darby is not contesting the figure. Objections from elsewhere are due April 21.
Judge Cynthia Rufe wrote the settlement is a "fair, reasonable and adequate resolution" in giving it preliminary approval last year.
Class members are anyone who received a parking ticket in Upper Darby in 2021 or 2022. Upper Darby is to cancel all unpaid tickets issued during the class period and make changes to how it handles future citations.
The case alleged due process violations from the town's Parking Enforcement Department. The tickets tell recipients that they can plead guilty and pay a fine or face prosecution.
When contesting, recipients had to wait for notice of a summons and hearing date but the suit says those notices are never sent.
"Hundreds, if not thousands, of persons receiving parking tickets never receive notice of how and when they may contest a parking ticket, nor an opportunity to appear and dispute a ticket," the suit says.
"Instead, Upper Darby leaves recipients in limbo, under ever-compounding fines and the fear of prosecution, without the most basic due process concepts of notice and an opportunity to be heard. Absent any notice or hearing, many individuals simply pay the tickets out of fear or confusion, without ever being afforded their right to notice and a hearing.”
The plaintiffs' case was furthered when the town's director of parking enforcement, Sekela Coles, was charged with theft, diversion of funds from parking meters and voiding parking violations of family members.
“While outside the four corners of the complaint, plaintiff nevertheless submits these new facts, as they would be among those to be developed in discovery, and bolster the plausibility of plaintiff’s claims,” plaintiff lawyers wrote last year.
Coles resigned from her post as a result of charges from the Delaware County District Attorney's Office. Allegations say she stole $4,300 from parking kiosks, and she reached an agreement to pay restitution and perform community service.