According to The Truth About Cars the City of Ventura, California does not owe Redflex, an Australian red light camera contractor, $1.7 million because the "cost-neutrality" provision in their contract was an unlawful contingent fee payment. The provision ensured that as long as Redflex was able to issue a sufficient number of tickets to generate at least $15,000 and as much as $124,000 in revenue, Redflex would pocket 100 percent of the ticket proceeds giving the company a direct financial incentive to boost the number of tickets issued.
Last month a similar provision in an agreement between the City of Fullerton, California and Nestor Traffic Systems was found to be illegal. Based on this illegality the California Court of Appeals invalidated all of the tickets issued by the system.
If you received a red light camera ticket you might want to check to see how the red light camera contractor got paid. If it was paid based on the number of citations generated, or as a percentage of the revenue generated, you may be able to obtain a dismissal of the ticket.
