South Carolina Supreme Court Decision is in!!

[kiawrench]

South Carolina State Supreme Court announced today the decision in regards to city of Myrtle Beach anti -biker laws .
helmet law - unconstitutional : state has a helmet policy in effect and no city or town has legal right to abridge,modify or supercede said law.    a win for us

noise law in regards to motorcycles : unconstitutional -- state has law that is an amendment to federal law in regards to EPA standards for decibel limits on motorcycles, city can not modify this policy ,,another win

unlawful public gathering in parking lot or unpaved areas : city can only enforce this law on property owned by the city, has no jurisdiction on private property, or areas that are provided for parking by private landholders , ie ,, mall parking lot,baseball parking areas, sports venues,    a big win

"special administrative court " : and additional laws specifically written as "administrative infractions,subject to fines of not less than 100.00 " all unconstitutional ,as the creation of an administrative court system is NOT within City 's judicial authority .

anyway , all the laws passed by city council to target bikers in general were made invalid, unconstitutional . also opened city of myrtle beach to several different class action suits based on over 3000 tickets written and fines paid in last year and a half.   yes, i added my name to the list, i want my fine fees back, as well as lost wages, court costs, and impound fees on my fazer. (came to just over 2500.00 out of my pocket ,plus loss of lic plate on th ebike ,as well as some items that were on biek when it was impounded.

the two laws that seem to be legal are the curfew for teens under 18 being on streets after 1 am .
and the regulation of no more than two motorcycles to share a single parking slot.

those two have some merit,, but bar owners and club parking lots figured out way around the parking thing, they just resurfaced parking area, designated legally required handicapped parking slots, and left the rest as an unpanted lot,, park where and how you want.

  local bike groups are revising plans for this years fall rally, and have tossed all of next years spring rally plans ,in favor of replanning entire event - to include heavy advertising nationwide on killing of the anti biker laws .

[Tiger]

 8) SUPERB NEWS.......A win for the common man... 8) Rise up, rise up.......

            8).......TIGER....... 8)

[funkamongus]

AMEN!

[h2olawyer]

Nice to see some sanity in judicial review!

H₂O

[kiawrench]

the court document was made public , it seems ,according to the state supreme court, the the city council, in the hurry to create a set of biker specific laws, actually invalidated each and every one of them ,making each and every one just words on paper!

there were 15 "laws "passed by the council, and one more that set up an "administrative court process" to provide a place to process all of the tickets generated by the enforcement of the "laws" .
each of the laws were identified as "administrative infractions "of city law, only to be handled by the admin court(the position of judge was to be filled on rotational basis by local attorneys,chosen by city council)
this "administrave court process" was determined to be unconstitutional by The Chief Justice of State Supreme Court ,and struck down by special directive of th estate within 2 weeks of being set up,prior to the first ticket being written. the city had to write another law, disolving the admin court process, and by direct application, that made every one of the anti biker laws invalid ( "so sayeth the supreme court")

now comes the ugly part:

  The city council has declared a special meeting, to reword all of the laws declared invalid by the recinding of the admin court procedure to make violations a misdemeaner, to be tried in municipal court !!!!

motorcycle helmet law and noise law can not be rewritten, but that leaves all of the others to be declared a crime against the people of myrtle beach!

3 guys eating lunch on the back of a pick up truck in a parking lot can get arrested for unlawful gathering,unlawful use of parking facility! they can be processed ,tried and have a criminal history for eating lunch!

3 people can split a parking slot with 3 motorcycles, and all three are going to get arrested,tried and have a record for a parking goof!
( law as written defines legal parking as no more than 2 motorcycles per parking slot )

a 17 yr old can have a job at burger king, leave work at 1159pm and stands a good chance of being arrested after midnight for being in violation of the city's new curfew law, after all, it is a misdemeaner crime to be under 18 and on streets after midnight (unless escorted by parent,legal guardian or by special dispensation granted by city of myrtle beach)

we may have got what we wanted to try and revive the bike rallies, but it seems we may have opened the proverbial box of worms.
one saving grace: the city has been warned about writing and attempting to repass these "laws" behind closed doors , full disclosure to the public, plus open coucil meetings are the only place they can be discussed,or voted on , unless it is placed on a standardised ballot for voting on by the general population