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Attorney-at-law Gavin Goffe
Qualified motorists should know after April how they will be refunded the excess of traffic ticket fines paid during a 15 year period ending 2021.
This after a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court Friday that motorists who paid traffic fines that were illegally imposed and well above the rates stipulated in the original Road Traffic Act, are entitled to a refund.
The ruling by a panel of three judges was made following a class action lawsuit filed by software engineer Maurice Housen.
Mr Housen filed the suit after he was issued a $5,000 ticket for a speeding violation in July 2021, well in excess of the $800 fine set out in the 1938 Road Traffic Act.
He contended that at the time he was ticketed, fines or fixed penalties for traffic offences under the 1938 RTA had not been increased by the legislature or the transport minister, as mandated in Section 116 of the statute. The court agreed.
Attorney-at-law Gavin Goffe of the law firm Myers, Fletcher & Gordon, which represented Mr Housen, responded to the ruling on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, saying all qualified motorists would be entitled to a refund, as set out in the court ruling.
Attorneys for Mr Housen and the Government are scheduled to return to court in April to make suggestions for the judges to determine the mechanism for the refund.
Mr Gavin noted that the real challenge will be for motorists to provide proof of payment for traffic ticket fines paid in excess over the 15 year period.
He said some information that can assist motorists with providing proof of payment is available on the website trafficticketlookup.gov.jm
He said his law firm, Myers, Fletcher & Gordon will, in due course, publish a statement advising members of the public on how to make contact for more information on the traffic ticket refund.
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