Parking management company must refund fines from 2 SR lots

Motorists who paid fines for parking violations in downtown Santa Rosa parking lots at Barnes and Noble and Wells Fargo Bank may be eligible for refunds under a court settlement reached Dec. 12, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office announced Friday.

Parking Control Services Inc. managed the two parking lots, in addition to numerous others in Marin, Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties, during a 4½-year period covered by the settlement negotiated as part of a consumer protection suit.

District attorneys from Sonoma and Marin counties had filed the suit alleging deceptive parking charge notices designed to appear like government citations and also unlawful collection methods that included threats of towing and immobilization boots, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said.

The company agreed to pay $100,000 in penalties, $30,000 in investigative costs and to repay customers who were improperly charged.

Most of the "fines" were in the $40 range, said Deputy District Attorney Matt Cheever of the county's Environmental and Consumer Law Division.

Cheever said it's unknown how many people might be eligible for restitution under the judgment affirmed by a Marin County judge this week.

Only those who paid a parking fee from March 27, 2003, to Dec. 12, 2007, are eligible, and then only if they claim a refund by May 10, 2008, authorities said.

Anyone with proof they paid a fine to PCS must send it to Parking Control Service Settlement Refund, P.O. Box 231, South San Francisco, 94083.

Consumers who do not possess proof of payment can call PCS toll-free at (877) 563-9444 and provide a license number of the vehicle for which they were fined.

For additional information, call Dave Davenport, general manager, Parking Control Services Inc., at the same number.