Policing the state
Trucker stands up for thousands of fellow drivers who faced fines of $2,000 rather than giving up their payloads in Louisiana
By Charlie Morasch
staff writer
Gary Ring shouted with joy when he heard the voicemail from attorney Madro Bandaries.
After six years, Louisiana’s First Circuit Court of Appeals has certified as a class action Gary’s civil lawsuit challenging the state’s fines for commercial trucks accused of bypassing weigh stations.
“We finally beat Louisiana!” Gary told Land Line Magazine.
Although the case is still pending, Gary said the certification as a class action is a major victory for him and other truckers.
Gary, an OOIDA member from Virginia, IL, has spent six years challenging the constitutionality of Louisiana’s on-the-spot fines at weigh stations and administrative reviews of state-issued traffic citations.
It all began in March 2000. Gary had pulled onto the shoulder of Interstate 10 near Lake Charles with other trucks waiting to go through a scale. When the “bypass scales” light came on, he left the shoulder to re-enter traffic but was pulled over by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy.
The officer took Gary to a Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development office and had a weights and standards officer sitting in an office to issue Gary a citation for passing a scale.
Gary was told that because he was not a Louisiana resident, he could either surrender his load – a shipment of drill parts – or pay a $2,000 fine on the spot.
“If I didn’t pay the $2,000 on the spot they were going to tow my truck and take me to jail,” Gary said. “I said ‘You can take me to jail, but I can’t surrender my truck.’ ”
Citations from Louisiana’s DOTD may be appealed, but appeals are heard in private by a committee. Ring was unable to defend himself but was allowed to write a letter to the committee.
In addition to the fact that the “bypass” signal had changed, Gary and Bandaries found that Louisiana state law allows drivers to bypass a weigh station if they’re hindering traffic by backing up lanes of traffic.
Bandaries said he hopes the civil trial happens soon.
“This is a victory for every trucker out there,” Bandaries said. “We may hopefully be in the position to get some relief for all these people who were forced to pay fines without due process of law.”
Gary paid the fine and went on his way rather than miss a delivery, but he contacted OOIDA and hire some attorneys to help his cause.
The suit has bounced from Louisiana Circuit Court up through the Louisiana State Supreme Court, and DOTD officials have challenged multiple rulings.
Bandaries said he believes that between 15,000 and 20,000 truckers have been denied due process at Louisiana weigh stations. The need to get trucks back on to highways and a perceived lack of organization to fight Louisiana made drivers an easy target, he added.
“They were ready like the Wal-Mart checkout line,” Bandaries said. “They took Visa and MasterCard and if you did not pay on the spot that’s OK, but they’re keeping your tractor and your trailer.”
Gary credited former Land Line Magazine Feature Editor René Tankersley for spreading the word about the class-action suit. Tankersley was killed in a wreck in 2004, but wrote stories when Gary was organizing drivers who had been fined on the spot in Louisiana.
Within days of one Land Line story, attorneys had received more than 4,000 calls from drivers with similar stories, Gary said.
“René really stayed at it,” he said.
Gary’s fight isn’t over, but some of the Louisiana DOTD’s procedures have already changed. The state is no longer allowed to take cash from drivers on the spot, though Gary said he still receives phone calls from truckers who say they’ve paid immediate cash fines. Weights and standards officers now sit inside a glass enclosure that offers a better view of highways near the scales, Gary said.
Procedural appeals of the lawsuit from Louisiana no longer surprise Gary, though he said he won’t give up on the case.
“What they’ve been trying to do is run us out of it,” he said. “I’ve been to court three times down there and we’ve proven them wrong time and time again, but nobody’s ever apologized and nobody’s ever given me my $2,000 back ... it took seven years to do this, it may take seven years to do the next part.”
