Hempstead, BusPatrol face new lawsuit over bus camera tickets following Newsday investigation

Two drivers ticketed by school bus cameras in the Town of Hempstead have filed a lawsuit seeking to throw out all tickets issued since the program launched in 2022.

The complaint filed Friday draws heavily on reporting from a Newsday investigation published last week and alleges the town is illegally ticketing drivers and violating their right to due process.

"Because the whole program has been infected with this lack of due process, this whole thing should be canceled," said Jonathan Neuman, the Fresh Meadows attorney representing the plaintiffs. "We want these people who paid their tickets to get their money back."

The lawsuit claims that drivers who contest their tickets with the Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violations Agency are not given certain evidence before their hearing and are unable to confront any witness for the town.

If the driver is found liable, they are not provided with a determination of the case or instructions on how to appeal the decision, according to the lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status.

"It is clear that the entire hearing process violates the basic fundamentals of due process," the complaint says.

Both the Town of Hempstead and BusPatrol America, the company that manages the town’s program, are named as defendants in the case.

Hempstead Town spokesman Brian Devine said the town is reviewing the lawsuit, but would not comment on pending litigation.

BusPatrol spokesman Gary Lewi also said the company had no comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges the town has been illegally issuing bus camera tickets within school districts that never agreed to participate in the program. State and local laws require districts to opt in before tickets can be issued on their behalf.

Newsday reported last week the town wrote more than 80,000 tickets over the past two year within four school districts — Baldwin, Hempstead, Lawrence and Valley Stream 13 — that have not opted in.

Those tickets are worth, if paid, more than $20 million to the Town of Hempstead and BusPatrol, which split the revenue. One plaintiff in the lawsuit, Rachel Rotenberg, was ticketed within the Lawrence school district.

Following the publication of that investigation, Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald X. Clavin Jr. demanded that BusPatrol refund all drivers who were improperly fined.

Town Attorney John Maccarone also wrote a letter to BusPatrol on Thursday saying no further tickets should be issued by cameras from school districts that don’t participate in the program.

BusPatrol said it "will take appropriate action in accordance with the law," but in the past the company has been adamant the town is the party responsible for the tickets issued through the school bus camera program.

It was not immediately clear how drivers who paid a fine would go about getting a refund or how tickets issued in the four nonparticipating school districts would be thrown out.

Because of the due process allegations, the complaint requests dismissal of all school bus camera tickets — including those in districts that agreed to take part. Newsday reported the town wrote more than 270,000 tickets in 2023 and 2024. If paid, those citations are worth roughly $67.5 million.

Neuman filed the lawsuit in Nassau Supreme Court, but attorneys representing BusPatrol had the case moved to federal court in the Eastern District of New York, as is common with class-action lawsuits. Neuman told Newsday he is asking the case be returned to state court, since it is a local issue.

"Their activities at all times have been purposeful ... and geared toward their profit motive," Neuman said about the town and BusPatrol. "The fact that it’s been running in those districts [that didn't opt in] highlights the egregiousness of how this program is not a real program. It just seems to be a money grab."

Newsday’s reporting last week also prompted the attorneys who filed a previous lawsuit against Hempstead’s bus camera program to amend their complaint to include the new findings.

"We were blown away by the Town's admission contained in Newsday’s report last week, indicating that they were aware of this issue, and continued to issue tickets in violation of law," said Joseph Aron, one of the attorneys representing plaintiffs in the second suit.