Jones and Mayer Lose Another One for Fullerton
Our city attorney just lost what is hopefully the final round in Fullerton’s red light camera case. A superior court judge denied the city’s request to re-hear the appeal of People vs. Franco, which was originally lost when the city attorney failed to show up at court last.
If you’ve been following along, you know that the red light cameras were a disaster from the very beginning. Fullerton’s contracted city attorney at Jones and Mayer allowed our city council to sign an obviously illegal contract for red light cameras to be installed throughout Fullerton. Thousands upon thousands of illegal tickets were given out until one recipient finally stood up and challenged the contract in court. Last year a judge found that Fullerton’s deal with the bankrupt Nestor Traffic Systems illegally gave the operator an incentive to boost ticket issuance by the cameras.
The most painful part of this story is that we kept getting those expensive legal bills throughout the entire red light camera circus, all the while being encouraged to continue fighting for this lost cause.
Someone close to this case wrote in to suggest that the city should sue Jones & Mayer for malpractice. If that’s an option, we certainly won’t hear about it from Richard D. Jones himself. How much longer will Fullerton pay for this bad advice? Will anyone be held accountable for this series of screw-ups? When was the last time that our contract with J&M was reviewed? It’s time for the council to admit that they were led astray and publicly address these issues with our city attorney.
Will the city be giving refunds for all of the illegal red light tickets that it issued over the years?
johnson, admitting that the city made a mistake and returning the money that they wrongfully took from Fullerton drivers would be the honest thing to do, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. From the very beginning, those red light cameras were all about ticket revenue, not safety. The only way the city will do the right thing is if the court forces them to.
Those guys are smiling for a reason. Ca-ching!
These guys are smiling because they win ($$$) even by loosing, what a scam.
I bet there are law firms that would not bill the city if they gave bad legal advise. That seems like a noble and fair concept.
A Friend from Costa Mesa wrote in to point out that J&M handled the Benito Acosta Affair in that city in a very similar fashion. Looking at these two court cases, the Jones & Mayer recipe for success seems to be:
Step 1: Lose an important case in an embarrassing way.
Step 2: Take the long shot odds to try and save your firm a little face.
Step 3: Drag the poor victor back to court
Step 4: Lose again on the taxpayers’ dime.
Step 5: Collect paycheck
So, I’ve heard that they have permanently disabled all those Red Light Cameras in downtown Fullerton. Is this true??
Yes Scott, all of the red light cameras in Fullerton are off. But no government program is ever “permanently disabled” unless the city staff and cops give up. We’ll keep an eye on it.