Ohio now fines drivers for registering plates late

Since the 1980s, it has been law in Ohio that vehicle registration expires on your birthday. But because license plate stickers merely reflect the month the plates are renewed in large enough type for another motorist to see, many drivers treat the entire month like a grace period, regardless of when their birthdays fall. The registrations are technically expired, but police wouldn’t know that by looking at the tags from their cruisers.
The state, however, knows. And beginning in October, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles began collecting a $20 fine from every motorist who renews plates more than a week after the birthday deadline. The month-long grace period is a thing of the past.
“This is not right and we should not be tricked into paying for the State’s inability to run a business within a budget,” reads a frequently forwarded e-mail alerting folks to the fee that ended up in Tipoff’s in-box. “Due to the fact the Ohio State Highway Patrol is running in a huge deficit, they changed the law so that you must renew PRIOR to your birthday.”
Well, kind of.
Gas tax funding for the Highway Patrol was phased out over several years and a series of fees were established in last year’s transportation bill to make up for the lost money. Among them is an increase in fees for a driver’s test eye exam, personalized plates and, for the first time, a $20 penalty for late registration renewals.
The e-mail making the rounds accuses the state of being sneaky, but Lindsey Bohrer, BMV spokeswoman, said the state put out a press release, posted the fee on its Web site and put it in large type on vehicle registration notices.
Drivers, you’ve been warned. There’s no such thing as a free ride.
Smash mouth football: The Browns are still playing offense even in the off-season. The opponent: D-A-S Construction, the firm embroiled in the county corruption scandal.
The Browns filed suit Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to collect money D-A-S owes for a suite it leased in April 2008. Steven Pumper, then CEO of the company, signed the lease.
Pumper pleaded guilty over the summer to charges including bribery of public officials and lying to the FBI.
The two-season deal was to include more than $80,000 a season for the suite, as well as ticket costs. The Browns want past due money and claims the because D-A-A violated its deal, it has to pay now for the 2010 season, too. Total tab: $166,930.
Supremely funny: Reminger & Reminger Partner George Coakley argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court last week. The material wasn’t exactly a rib tickler: Jerman v. Carlisle involves a suit against a law firm that is accused of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in an attempt to foreclose on a house. The firm says it made an honest mistake interpreting the act when it told the debtor she had to dispute her debt in writing within 30 days.
After the justices grilled Coakley and as the questioning wrapped up, the lawyer brought the august body to laughter in an exchange with Justice Antonin Scalia.
Said Scalia: “There are severe limits on the liability, aren’t there? Isn’t there a thousand -isn’t it a $1,000 limit?”
“Yes, your honor,” replied Coakley.
“That’s not big bucks for an attorney, is it?” Scalia asked, as the justices and those assembled in the gallery began to laugh.
“. . .well, maybe for the prior group that was up here. . .” said Coakley.
“It’s big in Cleveland.”
It will be some time before he learns whether he won the case. But Coakley definitely won their hearts. Justice Clarence Thomas, who was practically inanimate throughout the session, slapped his knee and gave out a hearty laugh.
A small accident: The big announcement that the abandoned Wal-Mart at CityView in Garfield Heights would soon become a meeting place known as the Cuyahoga County Convention Center was delayed last week.
And apologetic e-mail went out said: “Sorry for the incontinence.”
A later version was corrected to read “inconvenience.”
The news conference is now tentatively scheduled for Feb. 15, which means the organizers can – sorry – hold it for a month. Clearly, incontinence is not their problem.