Turbeville denies speed trap allegations

The tiny town of Turbeville, located on a heavily traveled highway between Interstate 95 and Myrtle Beach in rural Clarendon County, is asking that a civil lawsuit alleging that it runs an illegal speed trap be dismissed.

The class action suit, first reported by The State last month, was brought by three Midlands law firms representing two women who received tickets in 2014 under Turbeville’s “town safety” ordinance. Under that law, the town’s police officers routinely issue municipal tickets for “careless driving” with higher fines than state tickets.

The motion to dismiss the ordinance argues that neither woman was harmed and so has nothing to sue over.

One plaintiff, Rebecca Robbins of Columbia, has appealed her ticket and that appeal has not yet been settled, the motion states. Therefore, she has not been harmed, according to the motion. And the other woman, Marie Babayan of Bradenton, Fla., voluntarily paid her fine, which had been changed to a state ticket, so she was not harmed, the motion states.

“Plaintiffs claims must be dismissed inasmuch as neither . . . have suffered any damage,” it says.

Records show the town of 804 residents rakes in about $1 million a year from traffic violations, and officers there write more tickets than cities 20 times as large.

The motion, filed by a team of attorneys from Manning and Charleston, adds that the town ordinance does not violate state law once surcharges, called assessments, are paid to various state agencies like state tickets. One of the assessments is $5 per ticket to the Criminal Justice Academy.

Once those assessments are paid, Turbeville fines are generally in line with state fines. “In fact, there is no conflict between the ordinance and state law,” it reads.

However, in 2013, Jean Toal, then-chief justice of the S.C. Supreme Court, sent a letter to S.C. Criminal Justice Academy director Hubert F. Harrell saying the practice of towns and cities writing “careless operation” tickets under municipal ordinances carrying higher fines “could possibly run afoul of the authority delegated to them under the Home Rule Act.”

However, Toal predicted a challenge to the local tickets was unlikely because of the “benefits” that defendants are told they are receiving – no points on their driver’s licenses.

If successful, the lawsuit could deter other towns from trying to adopt the local-ticket model or continuing the practice. In the past, many S.C. towns have been scrutinized for their traffic-enforcement practices, including Hardeeville, Myrtle Beach, McBee, South Congaree and West Columbia, which still has a town-safety ordinance on its books but doesn’t enforce it.

Those cities have enacted town-safety ordinances ranging from the use of photo devices to catch speeders to local helmet laws. However, the towns dropped the local laws after they were questioned about them.

Columbia’s Simmons Law Firm has joined Bluestein, Nichols, Thompson & Delgado in Columbia and Jordan, Rauton & Scott in Lexington in filing the suit, which asks that the town return all the money it has collected since the ordinance was enacted in 2003.

The firms have been contacted by many other potential clients for the class action suit, although a spokesman would not elaborate.

“We have received Turbeville’s motion to dismiss and are in the process of reviewing their arguments,” said John Warren, an attorney for Simmons Law Firm. “At this time, we have no comment and will let our formal response, which will be filed within the next 30 days, speak for itself.”

Turbeville is on U.S. 378, a major route for tourists headed to Myrtle Beach from Columbia and the Midlands. Covering only 1.3 square miles and originally called Puddin’ Swamp, Turbeville is also near the U.S. 378 exit off of Interstate 95, funneling even more tourists through the tiny town.

In 2013, 75 percent of Turbeville’s $1.4 million budget was raised through traffic fines, according to town financial statements. The town has 10 full-time employees, including a police chief and three police officers.

The town’s 2013 budget said it had revenues of $1.1 million from its public safety department and spent $1 million on law enforcement to ensure the safety of its 818 residents that year. That comes to about $1,250 for every man, woman and child in Turbeville.

But the violations – which could result in points against a driver’s record, increasing their insurance costs, if they were state tickets – are not reported to the state Department of Motor Vehicles – and thus the driver’s insurance company. As a result, drivers – looking to avoid points and higher insurance costs – tend to pay the fines without question.

If a driver challenges the ticket – which can carry fines of up to $500 or 30 days in jail – Turbeville’s single town magistrate, hired by the town council, converts it to a state citation, lowering the possibility that the town ordinance will be challenged, the suit claims.

According to S.C. State Treasurer’s records, from December 2014 to November 2015:

▪  Turbeville, with a population of 804, according to the U.S Census Bureau, remitted $12,215 to the academy, which translates to 2,443 tickets a year, or an average of 203 tickets a month.

▪  Camden, with a population of 7,085, remitted $6,155. That is 1,231 tickets a year, an average of 103 a month.

▪  West Columbia, with a population of 16,060, remitted $6,725, which is 1,345 tickets a year, or 112 tickets a month.

For the four months from May through August – prime beach time – Turbeville’s monthly average of tickets jumps to 245. That’s more than one ticket – either a local traffic ordinance citation or a state traffic ticket – for every Turbeville resident during the vacation season.

However, in 2013, Turbeville police chief David Jones said the fines were intended to “shock the conscience” of drivers who could be endangering the safety of residents by speeding.

“If you knew on the way down from Columbia, if you got stopped you were looking at fines of $288 or $388 and that was it, I guarantee you wouldn’t be so quick to push down on the accelerator pedal,” he told a television station at the time.

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 5:05 PM.