NewsLocal News

Actions

Iowa Supreme Court: No refunds for wrongly issued tickets

Iowa Supreme Court Justices
Posted at 4:20 PM, May 14, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-14 17:20:37-04

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who said the state should refund a $465 fine he paid for a speeding ticket following another high court ruling that certain officers could not issue such tickets.

Friday's ruling likely means Iowa is off the hook for refunding millions of dollars in fines from tickets wrongly issued by Motor Vehicle Enforcement officers employed by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

A carrier enforcement officer stopped Rickie Rilea for speeding in 2016. Rilea pleaded guilty and paid the fine, but later challenged the authority of the officer to issue speeding tickets. The court agreed in 2018, but said Friday that the fine stands because his underlying conviction has not been overturned.