Leder v. American Traffic Solutions, Inc.

81 F. Supp. 3d 211, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8477, 2015 WL 332136
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 24, 2015
DocketNo. 14-cv-103 (ADS)(GRB)
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 81 F. Supp. 3d 211 (Leder v. American Traffic Solutions, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leder v. American Traffic Solutions, Inc., 81 F. Supp. 3d 211, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8477, 2015 WL 332136 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION & ORDER

SPATT, District Judge.

On January 7, 2014, the Plaintiff Claire F. Leder (the “Plaintiff”) on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated commenced this action against the Defendants American Traffic Solutions, Inc., ATS Consolidated, Inc., and the Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violations Agency (collectively, the “Defendants”). She asserts that the Defendants operated a red light camera monitoring system in Nassau County that Tailed to conform to federal and state guidelines and resulted in the issuance of invalid tickets to individuals, including the Plaintiff, from 2009 through the present. As such, the Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants violated (i) 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 based, upon alleged violations of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution (ii) the Due Process clause of the New York State Constitution; and (iii) Section 11 of the New York Civil Right Law (“NYCRL”). In addition, the Plaintiff alleges a common, law claim of unjust enrichment and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.

Presently before the Court are separate motions by the Defendants American Traffic Solutions, Inc. and ATS Consolidated, Inc. (collectively, “ATS”) and the Defendant Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violations Agency (“Nassau TPVA”) to dismiss the Plaintiffs class action complaint pursuant to Federal Rules Civil Procedure (“Fed.' R. Civ.P.”) 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants the Defendants’ motions and dismisses the Plaintiffs complaint in its entirety.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Underlying Facts

The Court draws the following facts from the Plaintiffs class action complaint and construes them in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff.

[216]*2161. The Parties

The Plaintiff does not clarify her circumstances or background, other than, as described below, on January 10, 2011, she received a ticket for running a red light on “SB New Hyde Park Road at Marcus Avenue” in Nassau County, New York. (Compl. at ¶¶ 5, 42.)

The Defendant American Traffic Solutions, Inc. is a Kansas corporation with its primary place of business located in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Id. ¶ 6). It is one of the two largest traffic camera operators in the United States and was the vendor used by Nassau County to install and service red light cameras for the RLC Program. (Id. at ¶¶ 6,11.)

The Defendant ATS Consolidated, Inc. is corporation of unspecified citizenship, which also has its principal place of business in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Id. at ¶ 7.) It is the sole shareholder of American Traffic Solutions, Inc. (Id.)

The Defendant Nassau TPVA is a department of the Nassau County government responsible for implementing Nassau County’s Red Light Camera Program (“RLC Program”) at intersections in Nassau County. (Id. at ¶¶ 1,8.)

The proposed class is defined as “individual and businesses who paid a fine and fee as a result of [red light camera] violations for any [cameras] operated by ATS within the state of New York” for running a red light between 2009 to the present. (Id. at ¶ 46.) The Plaintiff also proposes a “subclass of persons/entities who were ticketed for red light violations in Nassau County from 2009 to present.” (Id.)

2. The RLC Program

In 2009, as part of its RLC Program, Nassau County hired ATS to install and service red light cameras at intersections in Nassau County. (Id. at ¶ 12.) Red light cameras are devices that are designed to photograph vehicles that appear to be going through red lights in violation of New York State traffic law. (Id.) ATS installed systems at Nassau County intersections whereby photographs of vehicles running red lights are sent to the registered owners or lessees of the vehicles, together with citations for violating the New York Vehicle & Traffic Law (“NYVTL”). (Id.)

The Plaintiff alleges that ATS was responsible for issuing notices of liability to individuals who were photographed running red lights, “maintaining calibration of the timing of yellow lights,” “dictating the information to be printed on citations mailed to alleged violators[,] and timing the issuance of tickets.” (Id. ¶ 13.)

According to the Plaintiff, the RLC Program was required to conform to certain federal standards. (Id. at ¶¶ 14-19.) In particular, the Plaintiff alleges that a page on Nassau TPVA’s website states in connection with the RLC Program, “The goal is public safety. A yellow light that is too short or one that is too long can increase the risk of crashes. Before any camera is operational, both the vendor and the county make sure the signal timing is compliant with federal guidelines.” (Id. at ¶ 14.)

In addition, the Plaintiff .relies on NYVTL § 1680, which states:

The department of transportation shall maintain a manual and specifications for a uniform system of traffic-control devices consistent with the provisions of this chapter for use upon highways within this state. Such uniform system shall correlate with and so far as practicable conform to nationally accepted standards. To the extent that the National Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (hereinafter referred to in this section as MUTCD), promulgated by the Federal Highway Administration ... [217]*217does not conflict with the provisions of this chapter and the provisions of other laws of the state, the National MUTCD shall constitute such state manual and specifications.... The manual and its specifications is adopted as the state standard for traffic control devices on any street, highway, or bicycle path open to public travel.

N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 1680 (McKinney); (Compl. at ¶¶ 15-16.)

According to the Plaintiff, the National Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (“MUTCD”) requires traffic lights to have a “yellow change interval minimum duration of three (8) seconds.” (Compl. at ¶ 17.) Thus, the Plaintiff contends that the lights at Nassau County intersections were required to have yellow traffic signals that lasted at least three seconds before changing to red traffic signals. (See id.)

However, the Plaintiff alleges that “certain traffic signals” in New York State, including Nassau County, operated by the Defendants do not conform to the MUTCD standard because they have yellow lights with a “minimum duration less than [the] mandated standards.” (Id. at ¶ 20.) In support of this assertion, the Plaintiff relies on “anecdotal evidence of improperly calibrated red light cameras in New York State” that has been allegedly “corroborated by a study by [the] New York Department of Transportation issued in or about 2011.” (Id. at ¶ 22.) She does not attach or provide excerpts of this report, nor does she specify what “anecdotal evidence” she refers to. She also relies on a purported “CBS News” story documenting “one resident’s complaint of too short yellow lights and her ad hoc observations on red light cameras in her business vicinity.” (Id.)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 F. Supp. 3d 211, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8477, 2015 WL 332136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leder-v-american-traffic-solutions-inc-nyed-2015.