The price of socialized medicine..

The mistake was in trying to make it class-action. "If it malfunctioned for me, it must malfunction for everybody!"

i completely understand that i am a bad person, but



i'm ok with this.

In many places, parking at a broken meter is itself an infraction.

Ive said it before and I'll say it again. Those muni meters never work, at least in NYC. One of these days someone will take one out with a Louisville slugger.

It also raises the age old question; does a broken meter mean free parking or no parking? Every city is different.

looks like she shoulda paid the 31 bucks and then hired a decent hairstylist, good lawud. looks like some roadkill climed on top of her head and finally keeled over

If you don't get a receipt you cannot park.

Done and done.

I hope she has to pay every penny plus interest.

bangmaid: Ive said it before and I'll say it again. Those muni meters never work, at least in NYC. One of these days someone will take one out with a Louisville slugger.

It also raises the age old question; does a broken meter mean free parking or no parking? Every city is different.

Usually no parking. Otherwise you'd have people busting the meters up regularly for free parking.

Gonad the Ballbarian: If you don't get a receipt you cannot park.

Done and done.


In Toronto, these meters stop accepting credit and debit cards or just don't work on a regular basis. And they control all of the on-street parking. Are you saying the whole city should be prevented from parking on the street when the payment system goes down? That would be quite a strain on the businesses that rely on car traffic.

Lee Jackson Beauregard: In many places, parking at a broken meter is itself an infraction.

IMO, parking meters are stupid.

Wasn't the original intent of them to keep cars moving around in a metropolitan area? IE, someone goes downtown, spends some time there, then leaves before the meter runs out, leaving that space for someone else.

NOW, parking meters are an income source for the city and it's gone full retardation.

So someone parks at a broken meter, who cares? You would rather have that perfectly good parking space go completely unused because you can't collect money?

Someone goes a little over the time on the meter, so you write a huge ticket or two their vehicle without issuing any warnings beforehand? It's not like these vehicles have a metal plate that can uniquely identify them or anything.

// never got a parking ticket, because I do my best to avoid parking at places with this sort of BS and I don't mind walking a few blocks if it means not having to worry about feeding a meter. Plus, we don't have meters all over the place so they're easy enough to avoid.

// meters are free after 6:00pm IIRC

MattyBlast: The mistake was in trying to make it class-action. "If it malfunctioned for me, it must malfunction for everybody!"

I think the last line in the article is questionable logic but I can perhaps understand it.

"That a person brings a proceeding out of a bona fide concern to vindicate his or her concern of the public interest does not necessarily insulate that person from an award of costs," he ruled.

But prior to filing her suit, she should've waited for a similar day and done a study of 50 meters, waited for the sun to come out and ran the same 50 meters again.

s/two/tow/

// too early in the morning

Poor lawsuits should get punished with the defendant's court costs. USA, take note.

With unhelpful pic of what a pay and display meter doesn't look like?

Knows how to handle parking meters, broken or otherwise.

If she ends up going to jail, she should remember to befriend Juggalos

/farking toilets

offmymeds: [www.imaginaryyear.com image 400x225]

Knows how to handle parking meters, broken or otherwise.

It didn't work out for him, either.

How's that socialism working now? Isn't everything "free"?

Well, somebody should have been feeding the meter to the tune of about $70,000 during the time it was broken, so why shouldn't you be the one to pay? Weren't you the one who complained?

That's the way it works: the one who complains is the one who backed up the toilet. And then they wonder why things stay broken without anybody complaining.

brantgoose: Well, somebody should have been feeding the meter to the tune of about $70,000 during the time it was broken, so why shouldn't you be the one to pay? Weren't you the one who complained?

That's the way it works: the one who complains is the one who backed up the toilet. And then they wonder why things stay broken without anybody complaining.

It's why we can't have nice things.

brantgoose: Well, somebody should have been feeding the meter to the tune of about $70,000 during the time it was broken, so why shouldn't you be the one to pay? Weren't you the one who complained?

That's the way it works: the one who complains is the one who backed up the toilet. And then they wonder why things stay broken without anybody complaining.

Whoever smelt it, dealt it.

That'll teach her to dare question the government.

"Dude...I am so farking hung over right now, it's not even funny"

Canada's civil legal system is weird.
"Your parking meters break, affecting everyone who works in this city and drives. So I'm starting a class action suit."
"Nah, it's just you. Here's a bill for $70,000 because fark you, that's why."

So how come when the city takes you to court for something, and they lose, they don't have to pay *your* legal bills??

But after an Ontario court judge finally dismissed her bid

IOW, Fark you citizen

Damn, this story makes me want to watch "Parking Wars" on A&E.

/Yay for Ponytail!
//Garfield and Sherry RULE!

Burn her, burn her!

bmihura: How's that socialism working now? Isn't everything "free"?

You are trolling, but I will take Canada and it's socialism over the usa's "freedom" any day.

Although as someone who works in health care, our Medicare definitely needs fixing. It's a very broken system, especially in the have-not provinces like Manitoba.

Still can't wait to move to the USA, just so I can be with the future mrs stumpy in michigan

Meh, I'd hit it.

Traffic court judges- hear all, see all, ignore all- and rule in favour of the government, If the parking meter accepted the payment and did not print the receipt, how is the person responsible? Does the machine refund her payment because the proof of payment is not available?

So instead of fighting the ticket like a sane person or just paying it.. her husband/x/lawyer tries to cook up a class action to make a nice % of a total theoretical fee.

Not as bad as those giant class actions where the company settles for 20 million, most of it in coupons and 8 mil for the lawyers..

It was a dark and stormy night.

I thought doctors were smart.

Years ago, the city I lived in had some choice spaces dedicated to motorcycle parking. The meters said 20 minutes for a quarter during certain times of day, free at other times. I parked 50 minutes before the end of that time so I popped in 3 quarters and went on my way. It turns out the meters were only giving 15 minutes per quarter so I'd only paid for 45 minutes. Guess who has two thumbs and got a ticket. This guy!

The next time I went downtown, I watched the timer carefully as I dropped my quarters. 15 minutes per quarter. I checked a couple others and saw the same thing. I decided the $20 (or whatever it was) wasn't worth the hassle of a big fight but I included a note with my check that said it would be pretty low down and dirty of them to cash my check and they'd better change those meters so people get the amount of time they're paying for or one class action suit would have them paying back every fine they've ever collected on those meters. They cashed my check, of course. A month or so later, I noticed new labels on all of the motorcycle meters that said 15 minutes for a quarter.

/CSB

MythDragon: So how come when the city takes you to court for something, and they lose, they don't have to pay *your* legal bills??

Depending on what the court case is, they might.

whatshisname: Gonad the Ballbarian: If you don't get a receipt you cannot park.

Done and done.


In Toronto, these meters stop accepting credit and debit cards or just don't work on a regular basis. And they control all of the on-street parking. Are you saying the whole city should be prevented from parking on the street when the payment system goes down? That would be quite a strain on the businesses that rely on car traffic.

That would be an impetus for the city to make sure that the meters worked.

What kind of can of worms would be opened if it you could just say "it wasn't working when I parked?"

whatshisname: In Toronto, these meters stop accepting credit and debit cards or just don't work on a regular basis. And they control all of the on-street parking. Are you saying the whole city should be prevented from parking on the street when the payment system goes down? That would be quite a strain on the businesses that rely on car traffic.

I was at Toronto at my honeymoon. You cannot park in Toronto's downtown. At all. For one, the many many signs are so confusing that you couldn't possibly figure out if you could park there in the 3 seconds it takes to pass by the spot. Two, why bother? You guys have the biggest underground mall in the world. Everybody seems to walk everywhere, anyway, and they have a pretty good subway system. (Seriously, it's hard to find a fat person over there because there's so much walking downtown.)

Leave your car outside downtown and walk.

/still has an outstanding parking ticket in Toronto
//wonders what happens if I wander back over there...

whatshisname: Gonad the Ballbarian: If you don't get a receipt you cannot park.

Done and done.


In Toronto, these meters stop accepting credit and debit cards or just don't work on a regular basis. And they control all of the on-street parking. Are you saying the whole city should be prevented from parking on the street when the payment system goes down? That would be quite a strain on the businesses that rely on car traffic.

Some of these meters will not accept payments during rush hour and other restricted parking times. Bayview is restricted rush hour (7:00-9:00 AM southbound, 4:00-6:00 Northbound) Credit cards will not scan, and coins will, depending on the meters vintage, will either spit the coins straight through, or block you from inserting them in the first place. If paying just before a restricted time, it will not sell beyond the legally permitted time. Maybe the doctor should read the signs posted right beside the meters.

Took me a while to get used to the system.

I think coonts might have a new spokesperson.

Cool Hand Luke would have a solution to this.

Lee Jackson Beauregard: In many places, parking at a broken meter is itself an infraction.

I had heard that in California, a broken meter == free parking. But you still have to move after the time limit.

/IANAL

Is she related to Yoda?

I got an expired meter ticket in Pittsburgh when I knew I put enough money in to cover it. So I put another quarter in it and it showed 15 minutes, then another quarter and it didn't go any further. I called the number n the back of the ticket to report a broken meter. I got a letter about a week later that said their technician checked the meter and confirmed it was broken, so my ticket was dismissed.
Doesn't Toronto have a system like that that you can dispute the ticket because of a broken meter?

MythDragon: So how come when the city takes you to court for something, and they lose, they don't have to pay *your* legal bills??

It's a rarity, but it happens. Certain types of cases (depending on relevant state and federal law) are regulated by statutes that provide fees for a winning plaintiff (most famously civil rights violations). I know the feds can foot the bill sometimes if their position wasn't "substantially justifiable."

USA is actually kind of an odd duck in that "loser pays" is the exception rather than the rule.

MarkEC: I got an expired meter ticket in Pittsburgh when I knew I put enough money in to cover it. So I put another quarter in it and it showed 15 minutes, then another quarter and it didn't go any further. I called the number n the back of the ticket to report a broken meter. I got a letter about a week later that said their technician checked the meter and confirmed it was broken, so my ticket was dismissed.
Doesn't Toronto have a system like that that you can dispute the ticket because of a broken meter?

They certainly do (pdf).

Her problem was hiring a lawyer and attempting to turn this into a class action. My guess is this would have been thrown out quickly if she had taken worked through these channels and hadn't gotten a lawyer involved.... but once that happens things escalate quickly.

whatshisname: Gonad the Ballbarian: If you don't get a receipt you cannot park.

Done and done.


In Toronto, these meters stop accepting credit and debit cards or just don't work on a regular basis. And they control all of the on-street parking. Are you saying the whole city should be prevented from parking on the street when the payment system goes down? That would be quite a strain on the businesses that rely on car traffic.

Government does not care about the hassle and the impracticality of it. If you want to avoid the hassle of parking tickets, don't park where the signs or meters regardless of type are malfunctioning or vague in any way. That's how city governments nail people with parking tickets much of the time. Small technicalities and different interpretations of the areas that aren't entirely clear. If there is a way to see it as no parking, it's no parking and tickets will be issued.

offmymeds: [www.imaginaryyear.com image 400x225]

Knows how to handle parking meters, broken or otherwise.

Okay, WTF is *that*? A streetlight?

\yea, I know nothing is obscure on Fark
\\but I cant see a damn thing

Supes: USA is actually kind of an odd duck in that "loser pays" is the exception rather than the rule.

Federal civil procedure has taxation of costs now. Here in the Northern District of Illinois, it's granted pretty easily. The judges of this district also tend to be quick to award sanctions.

Erder: So instead of fighting the ticket like a sane person or just paying it

According to TFA: Dr. Arenson's loss was only a few dollars put into two parking meters and $31 for the fine, which was paid.

There has got to be much more to this story than the TFA gives us. Like: did she first try to get the meters checked out before she went lawsuit? Did the city do anything to check out the claim before it decided to invest 70k in fighting the suit? etc, etc ....