A federal appeals panel reversed a lower court’s ruling in a lawsuit alleging that Los Angeles’ $63 late-payment penalty for failure to pay a fine for a parking meter violation, set at the same amount as the initial fine itself, is excessive, according to court papers obtained Tuesday.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena on Monday sent the case back to Los Angeles federal court to decide whether the $63 late-payment fee is unconstitutional and a violation of the Eighth Amendment...