City admits mistakes, won’t pursue parking tickets older than six years

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This article was published 08/04/2016 (3498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Winnipeg city hall is writing off unpaid parking tickets six years or older after officials realized the tickets were written incorrectly and information had not been forwarded to the courts within the required time frame.

But questions remain whether the city can even enforce parking tickets that were issued as recently as March 17 of this year, let alone collect on any fines imposed on motorists.

The city is owed $14.9 million from unpaid parking fines between 1992 and 2015 but had already written off $11.5 million and it now appears doubtful it will be able to collect the remaining $3.4 million.

The parking ticket problems became apparent when city hall issued a news release late Friday morning stating it would no longer be trying to enforce the collection of parking ticket fines that were issued more than six years ago because the tickets did not comply with the Summary Convictions Act.

Michael Jack, the City of Winnipeg COO, later said the problem came to light after a parking ticket issued in 1999 was recently contested and the justice of the peace threw it out. That prompted an internal review, he said, where civic officials realized that there were serious shortcomings in the parking ticket process that date back to 1992.

Jack said the parking ticket shortcomings only undermined the ability of the city to enforce collection of parking ticket fines and insisted that all of the parking tickets issued by the Winnipeg Parking Authority, and those issued by police before the creation of the WPA in 2005, are valid. Jack said that when the shortcomings were discovered, city officials worked with the province for months and new regulations under the Summary Convictions Act were drafted and came into force on March 18 of this year. The wording on the tickets has also been changed to ensure it complies with the new regulations.

However, lawyer Allan Fineblit — former CEO of the Manitoba Law Society now in private practice — said the city’s admission that there are problems with parking tickets issued as recently as March 17 raises the possibility that the city is facing a bigger issue — those tickets may not be enforceable.

“In some circumstances, the fact there isn’t strict compliance (with the Summary Convictions Act), is not sufficient to invalidate the ticket,” Fineblit said, adding however that failing to include any fundamental information — related to the nature of the charge or what steps an individual must follow — “that would probably invalidate the ticket. It’s a judgment call until somebody actually tests it and a judge gets to decide.”

The city outlined the shortcomings of the parking tickets, which include “the ticket does not indicate that a default conviction would be entered against the vehicle owner unless the person dealt with it within 15 days of being issued the ticket.”

Fineblit said failing to disclose a default conviction would be entered against the individual “sounds exactly like the type of fundamental information that could invalidate the ticket. If I were the judge, and without knowing all the details, (that) would make me nervous about the validity of the ticket.”

Bowman satisfied

A spokesman for Mayor Brian Bowman said he is satisfied the parking tickets that have been issued comply with the city’s bylaws and provincial law and are legal and valid.

The spokesman said the outcome of the parking ticket review is that the city proactively took steps to address the issues and now has a set timeline for how far back they can collect on outstanding fines but city hall is not required to issue refunds for all fines already paid.

Jack said the internal review discovered that in 1992 Winnipeg Police, with co-operation of the courts and provincial justice officials, altered how tickets were written up and processed in a bid to streamline the court process. Jack said the changes didn’t comply with the Summary Convictions Act and its regulations but no one noticed it until a justice of the peace threw out a parking ticket last August.

Jack said police continued to issue parking tickets the same way since 1992 and that process was followed by the Winnipeg Parking Authority, after it was created in 2005.

Jack said that all parking tickets issued within the past six years are legal, except for winter parking ban tickets issued before Dec. 11, 2015. City hall had admitted in December its winter parking ban ticketing process was invalid, but this is not connected to Friday’s admission.

$8.2 million in outstanding tickets

A civic spokeswoman said there are about 142,000 parking tickets issued between 1992 and 2009 that have not been paid, with a combined value of $8.2 million. However, she said the Winnipeg Parking Authority only expects to collect about $1 million of that amount.

The spokeswoman said there are 100,000 parking tickets outstanding from 2010 to 2015, with a total value of $6.7 million. However the WPA estimates it will only collect $2.4 million.

Jack said city hall will not issue refunds for any parking tickets that have been paid, explaining that the city’s position is that the tickets were issued validly under the city’s bylaw and the city is entitled to that money.

Jack said the city cannot rely on summary proceedings to enforce the collection of parking fines issued after 2009, adding the city would pursue a variety of “civil remedies” to force motorists to pay their fines.

Jack said that aside from the problems found with the older tickets, the city could not enforce the collection of parking fines older than six years because those exceeded the statute of limitations, The Limitation of Actions Act.

Jack said individuals who have not paid their fines from outstanding parking tickets will be sent formal letters reminding them that fines are still owed and that while collection can’t be enforced through the Summary Convictions Act, the city will pursue collection through civil remedies.

“If they choose to pay the fines they have outstanding, that money will be received,” Jack said.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca