A new class action lawsuit filed against Hillsborough County Schools claims the district's appeals process for school bus camera violations is violating state law and the result favors the district and private camera vendor over drivers who challenge their fines.
Stanley Schultz of Plant City is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. He was fined $225 for illegally passing a school bus with its stop arm deployed last year. However, video from his citation shows the bus’s warning lights never flashed before the bus stopped and the stop sign began to deploy.
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"I felt that I was done wrong, and that's why I wanted to pursue it," Schultz said.
The judge who heard his case over Zoom and upheld his citation is based in Tallahassee, which the lawsuit identifies as part of the problem.
Class action lawsuit
According to the lawsuit, the Hillsborough County School District and the for-profit camera vendor, BusPatrol are violating state law by using judges who are mostly based outside of Hillsborough County to hear appeals, instead of using "local hearing officers," as required by Florida statute.
The lawsuit describes the current system as an "adjudicatory scheme" and states these out-of-county decision-makers, who are employed by the Division of Administrative Hearings in Tallahassee (DOAH). have "no local appointment, no connection to the community, and no statutory authority to hear these matters.”
"I felt that I was guilty before even going into the hearing," Schultz said about his appeal.
Currently, BusPatrol cameras are operating in three Florida school districts, and all three districts have partnered with DOAH judges for driver appeals.
For nearly one year, our series of investigative reports have exposed problems with Florida’s new school bus safety program and its appeals process.
Initially, we found that drivers who received violations had no way to contest them. Our reporting helped prompt lawmakers to get involved and revise the law requiring drivers to have the ability to contest their violation. In Miami-Dade, numerous problems with its school bus cameras resulted in the program being halted.
In Hillsborough County, drivers could not appeal their citations until September, nearly one year after receiving violations. By December, Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone found nearly 90% of driver appeals were unsuccessful.
According to BusPatrol, the latest numbers show 82% of contested violations are upheld.
Drivers have told us they believe the appeals system is set up for them to lose.
"It didn't make me feel like there was any due process," said Alicia Clark told us back in December when she tried to challenge her citation.
"No citizen should have to assume that they're going to a kangaroo court, that there's a foregone conclusion," said Jason Penny, another Hillsborough County driver who tried to appeal and lost his case.
The new lawsuit, citing Katie LaGrone's ongoing series, accuses DOAH of having a "track record" of "structural bias favoring government entities."
A spokesperson for the Hillsborough County School District said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
Bus Patrol calls the lawsuit “baseless” and plans to “vigorously” defend against it.
In a previous report, Judge John Van Laningham, one of the DOAH judges hearing appeal cases from Tallahassee, explained to LaGroen that the way the law is written makes it difficult for drivers to win.
"It doesn't give us any discretion to do anything but uphold the citation or void the citation," Judge Van Landingham told her in December.
Stanley Schultz's citation ultimately cost him $270 including an additional $45 he spent on to appeal his citation. He hopes this lawsuit will result in changes to the process and a refund, though he supports the school bus camera program in principle.
"I think the school bus cameras is a great idea," Schultz said.
However, he questions how the program is being implemented and, with millions of dollars in fines already paid, who it’s really benefiting.
"It's a bit of a money grab, and something needs to be done. I don't know if it comes from the judge's point of view or whether our laws need to be changed. But from what I’ve seen, not everybody is guilty of this," Schultz said.
Read BusPatrol’s full statement here:
This complaint is entirely baseless. BusPatrol has worked closely with Hillsborough County leaders, other Florida school districts, and the state of Florida to implement student safety programs in full compliance with state law. We will vigorously defend against this lawsuit and expect it to be dismissed at an early stage. This baseless claim will not distract the positive efforts of numerous communities across Florida to protect children on their journey to and from school.
"This story was reported on-air by Katie LaGrone and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy."
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