A federal judge approved a proposed settlement in a longstanding parking ticket debacle in Upper Darby, dismissing the case in its entirety with prejudice.
The final approved order and judgement signed by U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe creates a pool of $800,000 to be paid out on a per-ticket basis to nearly anyone who received a ticket in the township between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2022.
Some exclusions were carved out for officials and their relatives, as well as anyone who wanted to opt out of the class.
The order states that of the 14,776 mailed notices sent to class members for whom Upper Darby had an address, 1,045 were returned as undeliverable. After address verification searching, 755 updated addresses were identified and notices were successfully delivered to those addresses.
No class members objected to the settlement or opted out, the order states.
Angeion Group, which was previously selected by the parties to serve as the notice and claims administrator, had estimated administration costs would be approximately $98,000 and that plaintiffs’ attorneys may seek up to one-third of the fund plus costs, under the proposed terms.
An accounting filed by class counsel Ruben Honik and David Stanovich in March indicated the township must also cancel all unpaid tickets issued during the class period, representing a benefit of approximately $559,760.
As such, the total value of the settlement is nearly $1.36 million, according to that filing. Class attorneys sought $407,938 in fees, or 30% of the $1.36 million figure, as well as $6,494 in costs and a $5,000 service award for plaintiff Mary Candido.
Rufe approved those figures in a separate order.
Attorneys for the plaintiff and township did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Candido, of Clifton Heights, filed the suit in April 2023 after it was revealed that some 18,000 parking tickets were never sent to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts between April 2021 and early 2023, depriving alleged offenders of any chance to contest them.
Upper Darby hired Brinker Stinson acting Director of Finance Donna Stilwell to audit the ticket issue, leading to the unrelated arrest of former township Councilwoman and then-Parking Enforcement Director Sekela Coles in July 2023 for creating an alleged “slush fund” with monies collected from parking kiosks.
Coles resigned from her position shortly after her arrest.
She entered into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program last year, essentially a probationary program for first-time, non-violent offenders that does not require an admission of guilt and can eventually result in the charges being expunged.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said at that time that Stilwell found multiple oversight and information technology problems related to the parking ticket issue stemming from the parking enforcement office, but there was no criminal investigation because “incompetence itself is not criminal.”
Stollsteimer said tickets are a $1 million line item for Upper Darby and officials there previously valued the missing tickets at approximately $1.5 million in lost revenue.
Upper Darby voted to do away with parking enforcement as a separate office in August and consolidate it into the police department.
Candido meanwhile claimed in her suit that hundreds, if not thousands, of people receiving parking tickets during the class period were never notified on how to pay or contest them, leaving them in a legal limbo of fearing prosecution while fees continued to compound.
“Due to these uncertainties and risks, numerous individuals simply plead guilty and pay the parking tickets, even if they believe they have good grounds to contest them, because they are never afforded any notice or opportunity to contest the tickets in court,” the complaint explained.
Candido pointed to one extreme example of a barber shop owner who reportedly had his car towed over violations that he never received any summons or hearing dates for, but that he “absolutely” wanted to contest.
As part of the settlement, Upper Darby will have to directly reimburse any class member who received a parking ticket during the class period and who paid that ticket between Oct. 15, 2024, the settlement execution date, and May 16, 2025.
The settlement additionally requires the township to “implement business practice changes reasonably necessary to ensure that notice and a hearing are timely provided for unpaid parking tickets issued by Upper Darby.”