Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The big Roanoke civil case against abusive driver fees

Here is the complaint in the civil case some Roanoke lawyers have filed to get the abusive driver fee scheme declared unconstitutional.

I thought class actions were generally not recognized in Virginia state court, but they are relying on some outlier exception. I saw here that they were relying on the dicta from Judge Jones in the Wise County landfill case, with which I disagreed at the time.

The complaint raises the unlawful tax issue. I have ruminated before on the question of whether there is a way under Virginia law to get a tax refund from an unconstitutional tax.

You'd think they'd have to raise these issues in the criminal case, and lose, before they could bring some kind of glorified section 1983 case. The plaintiff might be innocent.

I wouldn't be surprised if some or all of the relief sought is barred by sovereign immunity.

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