On August 31, 2017, a resident of Bozeman, Montana, who was unable to pay his court debt that grew to nearly $4,000 out of a small $185 civil infraction, filed this class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. The plaintiff sued the governor of Montana, the Attorney ...
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On August 31, 2017, a resident of Bozeman, Montana, who was unable to pay his court debt that grew to nearly $4,000 out of a small $185 civil infraction, filed this class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. The plaintiff sued the governor of Montana, the Attorney General of Montana, the administrator of the Motor Vehicle Division of Montana, and the Bureau Chief of the Driver Services Bureau of Montana all under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The plaintiff, represented by Equal Justice Under Law, sought declaratory and injunctive relief as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. The plaintiff claimed that, by indefinitely suspending the driver's licenses of people who failed to pay court-ordered fines, costs, and restitution, even where nonpayment was solely due to indigence and thus not willful, the defendants had violated the equal protection, substantive due process, and procedural due process rights. The case was assigned to Judge Sam E. Haddon.
On October 17, 2017, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, arguing that the plaintiff had filed after the applicable statute of limitations had expired. Judge Haddon denied this motion without prejudice to allow renewal following the determination of class certification.
On March 2, 2018, the plaintiff moved to certify class, defining the class as “All Montana drivers who currently have, or will have, at least one driver’s license suspension because of unpaid court debts and who did not, or will not, receive an ability-to-pay hearing before the suspension.”
Later in March, the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal, requesting that the court dismiss the governor of Montana as a defendant. The parties proffered this voluntary dismissal after agreeing that the governor was not a proper defendant in this action because he does not administer the statutes challenged in the suit. The court has not yet approved this stipulation.
In April 2018, the court entered an order specifying due dates for discovery and supplemental briefs regarding the motion to certify class. The case is ongoing.
Jake Parker - 06/11/2018
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