Class Action Lawsuit Against Red Light Camera
Red light syndrome has become one of the most infamous defects in the California drivers’ vehicle licensing system. It is a well-known fact that most of the California drivers are familiar with this red light class action lawsuit. These lawsuits have been filed in San Francisco County Superior Court against the California Department of Motor Vehicles and their underinsured motorist insurance carrier, Allstate. The basis of these lawsuits is that the negligent parties did not make adequate disclosure of their defective systems.
These lawsuits have been pending before the California State Supreme Court since July.
The reason being is that the DMV did not make sufficient disclosures when they were computing for the cost of insurance for their licensed drivers. Some of the withheld information included things like the speed limit signs on the outer edges of the turn lanes, the visibility of turn signal lights, and the length of the turning lane. All of this information proved to be important to insurance carriers and ultimately resulted in the class action lawsuits.
Allred was represented by counsel from the law firm of Jones and Holahan.
This was a rather common contingency law firm representing clients with automobile accidents in San Francisco and other areas throughout the state of California. Allred did not file any lawsuits until he received a letter from the court dated July 6, 1997. His initial thought was that he had no case because none of the insurance carriers had admitted liability or wrongdoing in any of the four red light class action lawsuits that had been filed against them.
The next step came after receiving the letter that Allred received in the mail.
He contacted the attorneys at the Law Offices of John Murray, where he had worked before. During this telephone conversation, Allred learned that there had been a total of eleven red light class action lawsuits that had been filed. He was surprised to learn that each of these cases was being handled by a different law firm. The discovery also revealed that there were three separate trial lawyers handling the cases. Allred then determined that it would probably be a good idea for him to seek representation from the American Association of Personal Injury Attorneys, or APA.
When Allred sat down with his attorney that day, the first question that he wanted answered was whether the APA was prepared to commence the case on behalf of Allred and the other drivers.
His attorney quickly replied that yes, they were indeed ready to move forward. The next step involved in the preparation of the complaint and answer forms that would be used in the case. This task was taken care of by Allred and his attorney, as well as those from the ABA’s San Francisco division who handled the case.
When the complaint was completed and approved by the court, Allred now knew that he had a case.
The next step involved in preparing the case for trial was hiring an attorney to assist him in preparing the case for trial. Allred hired Paul Sheyer, a white collar attorney to do the case. This legal team comprised several years of experience in personal injury cases and even some experience in handling complex white collar cases. It was because of this extensive legal team that Allred was able to get the red light class action lawsuit off of the ground and into a courtroom.
