Good To Go! — 80-Day Adjudication Window and District Court De Novo Hearing
If WSDOT denies an administrative dispute, the registered owner has the right to a hearing in the district court of the county where the violation occurred. WSDOT must file with the court within 30 days of the request. The state must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the registered owner was the responsible party and that the toll trip occurred. Common defenses heard in district court: (1) plate misread (look-alike characters — 0/O, B/8, I/1); (2) vehicle in another state at the time; (3) toll-rate signage was malfunctioning or missing; (4) penalty stacking (multiple $40 penalties for a single trip series). RCW 46.63.075 (driver-of-record affidavit) lets the registered owner shift liability to the actual driver.
Legal basis
RCW 46.63.160; RCW 46.63.075; RCW 46.63.090 (contested hearings)
Sample appeal wording
TO: [COUNTY] District Court — Toll Infraction Hearing RE: WSDOT Civil Penalty Notice(s) [#] I request a contested hearing under RCW 46.63.160 and 46.63.090. DEFENSES: 1. Identification — The state has the burden to prove by preponderance that my plate was correctly captured. I challenge the OCR read and request the original camera image and confidence score. 2. Driver-of-record — Pursuant to RCW 46.63.075 I submit the attached affidavit naming [ACTUAL DRIVER] and addressing transfer of liability. 3. Penalty stacking — The State has assessed $[#] x $40 penalties for a continuous trip series on [DATE]. RCW 46.63.160 authorizes one civil penalty per uncollected toll, not per gantry; the multiple penalties are not authorized by statute and must be dismissed. 4. Signage / rate disclosure — Under RCW 47.46 and WAC 468-270, dynamic toll rates must be displayed in advance; the operator's own logs should be produced to show the rate displayed at the time my plate was captured. [NAME] / [DATE]
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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- RCW 46.63.160
- RCW 46.63.075 — driver-of-record affidavit
- RCW 46.63.090