Man Wins 2-Year Pro Se Court Battle Over $25 Ticket, Says Case Was 'Like Doing My Own Dentistry'
After a two-year court battle, a retired Massachusetts audio visual technician has emerged victorious in an epic pro se legal fight over a $25 parking ticket.
But Michael Rivers was drained by the experience rather than jubilant over his state superior court win against the city of Springfield, according to the Republican.
He contends he should easily have won the case at the administrative level, since the meter was apparently defective. Familiar with the havoc that “gunk” can wreak on mechanical equipment, due to his former job, he took photos of the gummed-up device but failed to prevail when he initially protested the ticket.
After paying a $300 filing fee, Rivers at first lost for failing to appear. But he successfully argued that he was never notified of the hearing date, pointing out that he would be unlikely to fork over $300 and then ignore a hearing date, the newspaper recounts.
“I prosecuted the case without legal help—something I will never do again,” he tells the newspaper, noting that the case took up hundreds of hours of his time. “It was painful, like doing my own dentistry.”
