City of Creve Coeur v. Nottebrok

• Decision Date: 25 October 2011
• Docket Number: No. ED 96396.,ED 96396.
• Citation: 356 S.W.3d 252
• Parties: CITY OF CREVE COEUR, Respondent, v. Mary NOTTEBROK, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

356 S.W.3d 252

CITY OF CREVE COEUR, Respondent,

v.Mary NOTTEBROK, Appellant.

No. ED 96396.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Three.

Oct. 25, 2011.Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to

Supreme Court Denied Dec. 5, 2011.

Application for Transfer

Denied Jan. 31, 2012.

W. Bevia Schock, Ste., Hugh A. Eastwood, Ste., St. Louis, MO, for Appellant.

Carl J. Lumley, Edward J. Sluys, Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe, P.C., St. Louis, MO, for Respondent.

Before ROBERT G. DOWD, JR., P.J., MARY K. HOFF, J., and SHERRI B. SULLIVAN, J.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Mary Nottebrok (Car Owner) appeals from the trial court's judgment finding Car Owner guilty of violating the City of Creve Coeur's (the City) “red light violation” ordinance. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

On August 11, 2009, Car Owner's vehicle was photographed by the City's “red light” camera as the vehicle traveled through an intersection near the northbound Interstate 270 off ramp at Olive Boulevard. The electric signal light was red when Car Owner's vehicle entered the intersection. Ten days later, the City issued a Notice of Violation of Public Safety at Intersection (ticket) to Car Owner informing Car Owner that her car had been “illegally present [in the intersection] during red light” in violation of the City's Ordinance No. 315.140. Printed on the ticket were three photographs depicting Car Owner's vehicle: a photograph of the rear license plate, a photograph of Car Owner's vehicle entering the intersection, and a photograph of Car Owner's vehicle exiting the intersection. The ticket identified Car Owner's vehicle by year, manufacturer, model, and license plate number. The ticket informed Car Owner that the penalty for violating Ordinance No. 315.140 was a $100 fine, which was due thirty days from the date the ticket was issued. The ticket further informed Car Owner that the violation was a non-moving violation, so no points would be assessed against her driver's license. A police officer employed by the City had signed the ticket. The following information, inter alia, appeared on the back of the ticket:

The [City] has adopted regulations for the automated enforcement of traffic control signal regulations. Accordingly, pursuant to the terms of Ordinance 16–398, the [City] Police Department is authorized to install and operate an intersection safety program which uses automated red light cameras to enforce public safety violations. It has been determined that your vehicle was present in an intersection when the traffic control signal, for the direction in which your vehicle was traveling, was emitting a steady red signal; red light violations damage the public by endangering vehicle operators and pedestrians alike.

Keep in mind that if you were making a right hand turn on a red light, you should have come to a complete stop and checked that the way was clear before making the right hand turn.

This violation is a non-moving infraction and no points will be assessed.

...

ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW: IMPORTANT: The owner of a vehicle cannot transfer liability to the driver of the vehicle. The vehicle owner is responsible for the violation notice. If, at the time and place of the violation, the motor vehicle was in the intersection due to a recognized exception (Recognized exceptions are listed in Code Section 16–398, which can be viewed at the City's website ...), the OWNER may submit information to that effect on a form provided by [the City's] Municipal Court within ten days of receipt of this notice. Upon receiving your information, the Prosecutor will review your case. You will be notified of the outcome through the U.S. mail.

...

COURT HEARING: If you fail to pay or otherwise fail to respond to this Notice of Violation as directed, you will receive a Notice to Appear in Court. Car Owner did not respond to the ticket.

Consequently, on September 28, 2009, the City

issued a Notice to Appear informing Car Owner that she was required to appear in the City's municipal court on November 4, 2009. Car Owner instead filed a Motion to Dismiss Based on Defect in the Institution of the Prosecution (Motion to Dismiss). The Motion to Dismiss alleged that Car Owner's due process rights under the United States and Missouri Constitutions had been violated because the City did not have probable cause to believe she had violated Ordinance No. 315.140 in that the ordinance “essentially creates a status offense, similar to a parking ticket” and “makes the identity of the driver irrelevant.” The Motion to Dismiss further alleged that Ordinance No. 315.140 conflicted with Missouri law because Chapter 302 of the Revised Missouri Statutes prescribes a point system for the suspension or revocation of licenses based on moving violations and requires municipalities to report points to the Director of Revenue, but Ordinance No. 315.140 expressly disallowed the assessment or reporting of points. The Motion to Dismiss also alleged that Ordinance No. 315.140 imposed strict liability on vehicle owners while state statutes imposed liability only on drivers; thus, the City had acted outside of its authority by enacting an ordinance with a lower burden of proof than that required by Missouri criminal procedure for a violation of state statute, thereby circumventing state law and destroying Car Owner's ability “to defend herself within constitutional norms.”

The municipal court called, heard, and denied Car Owner's Motion to Dismiss. Car Owner and the City subsequently submitted the case to the municipal court on stipulated facts. The municipal court found Car Owner guilty of violating Ordinance No. 315.140 and ordered Car Owner to pay a fine of $100.

Car Owner thereafter filed an application for trial de novo and a second Motion to Dismiss with the trial court. In her second Motion to Dismiss, Car Owner essentially reiterated the allegations contained in her first Motion to Dismiss filed with the municipal court. The City filed Suggestions in Opposition to Car Owner's second Motion to Dismiss. The City's Suggestions in Opposition argued (1) Ordinance No. 315.140 was a public safety ordinance that, like parking restrictions, placed strict liability on the owner of the vehicle and assessed only a “modest fine” as a sanction; (2) “[m]ovement” was not an element required to prove the violation of the ordinance, so violators of the ordinance were not assessed points on their driving records; (3) Ordinance No. 315.140 expressly provided that incarceration was not a possible sanction; (4) the City derived its power to enact laws from the Missouri Constitution; and (5) Ordinance No. 315.140 did not conflict with Missouri law but applied additional traffic regulation as authorized by Section 304.120.2(1) ¹. The trial court subsequently denied Car Owner's second Motion to Dismiss. The case proceeded to trial, and the parties submitted the matter to the trial court on stipulated facts. After receiving evidence and hearing arguments, the trial court took the case under submission. Later, the trial court entered its verdict and judgment finding Car Owner guilty of violating Ordinance No. 315.140. The trial court imposed a fine of $100. This appeal followed.

Standard of Review

“[V]iolations of municipal ordinances are civil matters but, because of the quasi-criminal nature of an ordinance, are subject to the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” City of Dexter v. McClain, 345 S.W.3d 883, 885 (Mo.App. S.D.2011); see also City of Bellefontaine Neighbors v. Scatizzi, 302 S.W.3d 730, 732 (Mo.App. E.D.2010), and City of Kansas City v. Heather, 273 S.W.3d 592, 595 (Mo.App. W.D.2009). Under Missouri law, violations of municipal ordinances shall be heard and determined only before divisions of the circuit court. Section 479.010 RSMo. Cum.Supp.2007; City of Springfield v. Belt, 307 S.W.3d 649, 653 (Mo. banc 2010). In reviewing the trial court's judgment regarding the violation of a municipal ordinance, we will affirm the trial court's decision unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, the judgment is against the weight of the evidence, or the judgment erroneously declares or applies the law. City of Dexter, 345 S.W.3d at 885; City of Bellefontaine Neighbors, 302 S.W.3d at 732, citing Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976). Further, where a case involving the violation of a municipal ordinance is tried on stipulated facts, the only issue we review on appeal is whether the trial court reached the proper legal conclusions from the stipulated facts. City of Bellefontaine Neighbors, 302 S.W.3d at 732. “We review the interpretation of a city ordinance de novo.” Id.

Point I

In her first point on appeal, Car Owner claims the trial court erred in denying her Motion to Dismiss because the Ordinance and prosecution violated her constitutional right to procedural due process in that due process requires the officer issuing the ticket to have a belief, based on probable cause, that the person cited in the ticket is the driver of the vehicle in question and not merely the owner of the vehicle.

The City counter argues that the identity of a vehicle's operator at the time the vehicle is in violation of Ordinance No. 315.140 is irrelevant because (1) neither the ordinance nor state law requires a showing that the owner of the vehicle was the operator of the vehicle; (2) the ordinance is valid under Missouri law; (3) the City has not impermissibly reversed the burden of proof; (4) the ordinance is civil in nature, not criminal, for purposes of due process; and (5) the ordinance is a valid exercise of the City's police powers.

Both the United States and the Missouri constitutions prohibit the taking of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. U.S. Const. amend. XIV; Mo. Const. Art. 1, Section 10. To determine what process is due in a particular case, the court first determines whether an individual has been deprived of a constitutionally...