[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Great
Neck Plaza 7-6-1983 as L.L. No. 4-1983.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Great Neck Plaza finds that
the effectiveness of parking restrictions on streets and highways of the village
have been seriously undermined by ineffective enforcement arising from the
failure of operators and owners of motor vehicles to appear in the Village
Justice Court to enter a plea to a charge of a parking violation or failing
to appear on a designated hearing date. The Board of Trustees further finds
that this problem can be corrected by establishing a procedure by which the
Police Justice Court can enter default judgments, provided that due and proper
notice is provided to persons who will be affected by such procedure.
Where an operator or owner in the Village Justice Court fails to enter
a plea to a charge of a parking violation or fails to appear on a designated
hearing date or subsequent adjourned date, such failure to plead or appear
shall be deemed, for all purposes, an admission of liability and shall be
grounds for the Court rendering and entering a default judgment requiring
the defendant to pay a fine in a prescribed amount as authorized by law. However,
after the expiration of the original date prescribed for entering a plea and
before a default judgment may be rendered, in such case the Village Justice
Court shall notify such operator or owner by first-class mail of the violation
charged; of the impending default judgment; that such judgment will be entered
in the Nassau County Clerk's office, or any other place provided for
the entry of civil judgments within the State of New York; and that a default
may be avoided by entering a plea or making an appearance within 30 days of
the sending of such notice. Pleas entered within that period shall be in the
manner prescribed in the notice and not subject to additional penalty or fee.
Such notice of impending default judgment shall not be required prior to the
rendering and entry thereof in the case of operators or owners who are nonresidents
of the State of New York. In no case shall a default judgment be rendered
or, where required, a notice of impending default judgment be sent more than
two years after the expiration of the time prescribed for entering a plea.
When a person has demanded a hearing, no fine or penalty shall be imposed
for any reason prior to the holding of the hearing. If the Village Justice
Court shall make a determination on the charges sustaining them, it shall
impose no greater penalty or fine than those upon which the person was originally
charged.
