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Editor: Bob Battle
Profession: DUI Defense Lawyer

Category: Virginia Reckless Driving/Speeding

Henrico County General District Court Judge Archie Yeatts ruled this morning that Virginia's controversial new Civil Remedial Fees for certain traffic offenses are an unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.

Henrico County Traffic Lawyer Bob Battle has previously written about the Equal Protection Clause issue in the "Virginia DUI Lawyer." The winning legal argument raised was extremely straightforward. The motion filed on behalf of the defendant stated that the Virginia Civil Remedial Fees were unconstitutional because they were only levied against Virginia motorists and not against out-of-state motorists convicted of the exact same offenses.

The Attorney General's Office, working with the Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney's office, argued that this new law did not violate the Equal Protection Clause because there were two reasons that provided a "rational basis" for the distinctions among Virginia motorists and out-of-state motorists.

The first reason was that more Virginia motorists use the highways and roads of Virginia and the second reason was the increased difficulty in collecting the fines against out-of-state motorists. Henrico County General District Court was the wrong place to make these arguments! The interstate highways located in the county have some of the most notorious speed traps in a state now notorious nationally for its speed traps. Henrico County is one of the busiest and toughest jurisdictions on Reckless Driving Speeding cases in the state. (For example, anyone convicted of doing 90 mph and above goes to jail for at least one day.) The General District Court judges in Henrico County literally see thousands of out-of-state motorists every year that are charged with traffic offenses in Henrico County.

The state will appeal Judge Archie Yeatts' ruling to Henrico County Circuit Court.

With his order, Yeatts instructed Henrico General District Court clerks not to collect any Civil Remedial Fees.

Read the full opinion of Judge Yeatts- Henrico County Judge's Opinion Declaring Civil Remedial Fees Unconstitutional.