蜜桃传媒

To get her license back, the North Charleston resident would have to pay more than $1,600 that she didn鈥檛 have. To get a hearing where she could explain why she couldn鈥檛 pay the $1,600, she would have to pay an additional $800 in filing fees that she could not afford.

Now, due to limited bus service in her area, she often can鈥檛 get to her part-time job, her doctor鈥檚 office, the store or church without the help of friends or a car service. An Air Force veteran, she cannot take a well-paying聽job聽as a case manager because it requires her to have a driver鈥檚 license. And she cannot drive to visit her son in the Navy.

鈥淭o not be able to drive legally, I feel like a prisoner in my own city,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 went from being the breadwinner in my household to now having to rely on family and friends for transportation, to pay my bills. Some days I don鈥檛 even have enough money for an Uber or a bus. So if I have to go to church or work, sometimes I have to decide whether I鈥檓 going to even go or not because of the lack of funds.鈥�

Carter is one of the more than 190,000 South Carolinians who currently have suspended driver鈥檚 licenses for unpaid traffic tickets. For tens of thousands of people like Carter, paying a traffic ticket is a financial hardship. It can literally mean choosing between using limited financial resources to pay off outstanding fines and costs to be able to drive legally, or paying for rent, utilities, food, childcare and other necessities.

Carter is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that the 蜜桃传媒 and its partners filed today, challenging the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles鈥� (DMV鈥檚) policy of automatically suspending the driver鈥檚 licenses of people who are unable to pay traffic tickets.

The lawsuit argues that people living with an indefinite driver鈥檚 license suspension under South Carolina鈥檚 wealth-based system are robbed of a crucial means of self-sufficiency and are pushed deeper into poverty.

The complaint, White, et al. v. Shwedo et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. It seeks to end the DMV鈥檚 indefinite suspension of driver鈥檚 licenses for nonpayment of traffic fines and fees without proper notice or a hearing. The current practice bars nearly 200,000 people from driving.

The lawsuit further seeks to lift the suspensions of driver鈥檚 licenses for failure to pay traffic tickets imposed under this system. The complaint also seeks to eliminate DMV reinstatement fees, and fees charged for hearings to dispute suspensions, which block people from explaining to the DMV why they cannot pay.

The 蜜桃传媒 filed the lawsuit with its partners the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of South Carolina, Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC, and the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center.

鈥淭he right to drive should not be dependent on a person鈥檚 ability to pay hundreds of dollars in fines and fees,鈥� said Emily Early, staff attorney for the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Economic Justice Project. 鈥淪uspending a driver鈥檚 license presents a choice 鈥� either miss work, a doctor鈥檚 appointment, or going to the grocery store or drive on a suspended license and risk further penalties and jail time. The consequences of losing a driver鈥檚 license are devastating for low-income families.鈥�

Punished for being poor

In South Carolina, one in six people live in poverty and nine of out 10 people rely on driving to get to work. The DMV鈥檚 automatic suspension of driver鈥檚 licenses for failure to pay traffic tickets prevents people from finding and keeping work, taking their children to and from school, accessing health care, purchasing groceries and other necessities, and traveling to places of worship.

Due to longstanding racial disparities in poverty and wealth, black South Carolinians are disproportionately harmed by the suspension of driver鈥檚 licenses for nonpayment of traffic fines and fees.

鈥淭he South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles is running a wealth-based driver鈥檚 license suspension system that punishes people who cannot afford traffic tickets far more harshly than those who can, in violation of basic constitutional rights to fairness and equal treatment of rich and poor in the legal system,鈥� said Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, deputy director of the ACLU鈥檚 Racial Justice Program. 鈥淭aking driver鈥檚 licenses away from people who are struggling financially drives them deeper into poverty, unemployment, debt, and entanglement with the legal system. We are suing to end this counterproductive and illegal practice.鈥�

Linquista White, another plaintiff in the lawsuit, needs to drive in order to get to work, take her daughter to school, and support her family.

鈥淚 sacrificed my family鈥檚 needs to get my driver鈥檚 license back when it was suspended for a ticket I could not pay,鈥� White said. 鈥淣ow it is going to happen again. No one should be punished with a driver鈥檚 license suspension just because they cannot afford to pay a traffic ticket.鈥�

Plaintiff Emily Bellamy, a single mother and the primary caregiver for four young children, works full-time in a children鈥檚 daycare facility. But she does not earn enough to meet her family鈥檚 needs, including rent, childcare, groceries, utilities, phone service, household supplies, personal care/hygiene needs, milk products for her youngest son, transportation and medicine.

Bellamy鈥檚 driver鈥檚 license is indefinitely suspended because she cannot afford to pay over $700 in traffic fines and fees, and at least $1,305 in reinstatement fees to the DMV. Because her driver鈥檚 license is suspended, she is also unable to secure higher-paid work in hotel housekeeping or as a home health aide.聽

Additionally, because she is not able to drive legally, she cannot earn more money by taking on additional part-time work to cover her family鈥檚 expenses. If she had a valid driver鈥檚 license, she could drive on weekends to work in housekeeping. That work, however, requires the ability to drive between various job sites and to transport heavy linens, cleaning products and rags between the sites.聽

Also, because she does not have a valid driver鈥檚 license, she is unable to visit and help her mother, who has HIV and lives about 21 miles away. What鈥檚 more, Bellamy is unable to take her children to the doctor or to extracurricular activities. Unable to afford car service or taxi rides, she is forced to depend on rides from friends or family members, whenever they are available.

鈥楢 driver鈥檚 license is a basic necessity鈥�

The South Carolina lawsuit is the latest challenge the 蜜桃传媒 has made against states across the South that have suspended the driver鈥檚 licenses of people who cannot afford to pay traffic fines.

In 2017, the 蜜桃传媒 reached a settlement with Mississippi in which the state agreed to reinstate more than 100,000 driver鈥檚 licenses for non-payment of traffic tickets, and to stop suspending licenses for failure to pay fines.

In November 2018, the 蜜桃传媒 sued Alabama for unlawfully suspending thousands of driver鈥檚 licenses for unpaid traffic tickets without taking into account a person鈥檚 ability to pay.

In May 2018, the 蜜桃传媒 sued the North Carolina DMV for revoking the licenses of hundreds of thousands of people who could not afford to pay traffic tickets.聽The ACLU, the ACLU of North Carolina and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice also joined the 蜜桃传媒 in filing the lawsuit.

In South Carolina, when the DMV receives a report that a state resident or driver鈥檚 license holder has not paid a traffic ticket, it automatically suspends that person鈥檚 driver鈥檚 license without providing proper notice or a hearing to ensure that people who cannot pay will not lose their licenses.

U.S. Supreme Court precedent makes clear, however, that the 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection of the law require consideration of a person鈥檚 ability to pay before they are punished for nonpayment of a court fine, the lawsuit states.

鈥淚n a rural state like South Carolina, a driver鈥檚 license is a basic necessity,鈥� said Susan Dunn, legal director of the ACLU of South Carolina. 鈥淭he denial of driver鈥檚 licenses to more than one hundred thousand people simply because of their lack of financial resources hurts individuals, their families, businesses, and entire communities.鈥�

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