COUNTYWIDE : Judge Hears Cities’ Lawsuit Over Fines
A Santa Barbara Superior Court judge is expected to rule this week on a lawsuit filed against Ventura County by its 10 incorporated cities over the distribution of fines collected from convicted drunk drivers.
Judge Ronald Stevens heard arguments on the case Friday, Assistant County Counsel William C. Moritz said.
The lawsuit, filed in 1989 by the Ventura County Assn. of Cities, demands a share of up to $2 million in fines the county collects each year from drunk drivers.
Until September, 1987, the cities kept about 85% of such fines. Then the county began keeping all the money to run its probation program for drunk drivers.
The suit asks the county to account for money collected from fines, to return funds collected after 1987 and to split future funds with the cities.
The cities are represented by Elizabeth Silver, a San Francisco Bay Area attorney who successfully represented 18 Contra Costa County cities in a similar suit.
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