The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

An investigation by the South Florida Times has revealed that residents and business owners in Fort Lauderdale, Florida may be entitled to refunds in the millions of dollars for fees that the city overcharged them to send police and firefighters to false alarms. Due to the current state of the economy, paying out these refunds could prove to be disastrous for the city of Ft. Lauderdale.

According to investigators, the city charged residents and business owners over $4.5 in the year 2008. Ft. Lauderdale city auditor, John Herbst, has determined that because the fees residents paid to respond to false burglar and fire alarms have been higher than what the city actually pays for these services, the overcharges were actually fines and should have gone through a legal process that would have allowed the offenders to challenge the fines. The city of Ft. Lauderdale may be violating state law because it does not have a process for challenging fines or fees. The fees were supposed to cover expenses such as gas for emergency vehicles, mailing violation notices, wages for processing and legal review, and other various costs.

Civil Rights Violation?

Article I, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution states, "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense, or be compelled in any criminal matter to be a witness against oneself."

According to officials, residents who are repeat offenders for false fire alarms have been charged upwards of $400 per incident; business owners that are repeat offenders have also been charged a similar fee for false fire and police alarms. Herbst alleges he has been warning the city’s officials about this issue for over a year now.

At the time of this writing, Ft. Lauderdale city officials have not made public the list of residents and business owners who have been overcharged. However, the South Florida Times is on the list and was cited three times in 2007 for false burglar alarms.

If your civil rights have been violated, you must take legal action now. Please contact The Cochran Firm, with offices nationwide, to meet with an attorney and have your claim reviewed.

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