Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge David E. Henderson issued a preliminary injunction on Monday against the speed camera program in Steubenville, Ohio. As a result, the city has shut down the camera system and those who have received tickets will not have to pay them unless the case is resolved in the city's favor.

Attorney Gary M. Stern filed a class-action lawsuit on November 23 after his wife was mailed a pair of $85 speed camera citations. She was not driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged offense. Stern charges that the city failed to follow the terms of its own ordinance which required fourteen days of advance notice before installing the cameras.

Stern also cites constitutional problems with the ordinance: "Persons who wish to contest their citations are limited to a hearing that is not subject to any prescribed rules of procedure or evidence, and is not heard by an impartial tribunal, but is decided by a police officer employed by the very department that issued the citation, whose decision is final and not subject to judicial review or further appeal, all of which violate the due process rights guaranteed by the Ohio and the United States constitutions."

Since September 23, Steubenville has collected $225,000 in revenue from the camera program which issued $85 tickets to anyone going just 5 MPH over the speed limit.

View a copy of the lawsuit from Stern's website.