Tupper v. City of St. Louis
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs each received notices that they had violated ordinance 66868, the City of St. Louis’s red light camera ordinance. Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the validity of the ordinance and seeking a declaratory judgment that the ordinance is invalid and an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. The City subsequently dismissed the pending prosecutions against Plaintiffs. After a bench trial, the court enjoined the City from enforcing ordinance 66868, concluding that the ordinance was invalid, but denied Plaintiffs’ petition as to the rest of the defendants. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Plaintiffs could maintain their action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief because, after the City dismissed the prosecutions for the ordinance violations, Plaintiffs no longer had an adequate legal remedy; (2) ordinance 66868 is constitutionally invalid because it creates a rebuttable presumption that improperly shifts the burden of persuasion onto the defendant to prove that the defendant was not operating the motor vehicle at the time of the violation; and (3) the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in not awarding attorney’s fees.
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