Question regarding fines/public notice
Greetings everyone!
So one of my municipalities has no municipal court and it has a couple of issues.
First, it has a number of ordinances that come with fines, many of which are code enforcement. In my opinion, none of the fines are enforceable because the city does not have a municipal court. Excluding the statutes for nuisance abatement regarding property, is there any authority to support the proposition that a municipal ordinance for a fine can be initially enforced within the district court system?
Second, if a citizen has improperly subdivided and sold property to others without following the municipality's ordinances regarding the subdivision of property and recorded, is there any legal impediment to filing a notice to the public in the records of the County Clerk regarding the parcel of land stating that it is not compliance with the municipality's zoning code?
Any guidance is appreciated.
Best,
Ray
[cid:image001.png@01DB91D0.48DB2C70]
Robert Ray Jones, Jr., Director
119 N. Robinson Ave., Suite 1200
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
405-235-7471 | 405-232-3852 (fax)
www.lytlesoule.comhttp://www.lytlesoule.com/
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I'll address your first question.
I do not believe a District Court could hear a criminal case involving a
municipal ordinance violation in the first instance. Jurisdiction over such
a case would be in the Municipal Court, if one is established. 11 O.S.
§27-103. A District Court only obtains jurisdiction over the case after
there is a final judgment and an appeal is filed. 11 O.S. §27-129. At
that point, the District Court does effectively exercise the authority of
the Municipal Court by conducting a trial de novo. But its role is still
contemplated to be an appellate role. See e.g. Dutton v. City of Midwest
City, 2015 OK 51, ¶29, 353 P.3d 532. If the legislature intended to grant
jurisdiction to District Courts to hear, in the first instance, criminal
cases involving ordinance violations when no Municipal Court had been
established, they could have done so by statute. To my knowledge they have
never adopted such a statute.
Perhaps there would be a code violation that could give rise to a civil
lawsuit in District Court. But I don't see anyway that the District Court
could ever have jurisdiction over a criminal ordinance violation when
there was no Municipal Court established to hear the case in the first
instance.
Matt
On Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 3:25 PM Ray Jones via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
wrote:
Greetings everyone!
So one of my municipalities has no municipal court and it has a couple of
issues.
First, it has a number of ordinances that come with fines, many of which
are code enforcement. In my opinion, none of the fines are enforceable
because the city does not have a municipal court. Excluding the statutes
for nuisance abatement regarding property, is there any authority to
support the proposition that a municipal ordinance for a fine can be
initially enforced within the district court system?
Second, if a citizen has improperly subdivided and sold property to others
without following the municipality’s ordinances regarding the subdivision
of property and recorded, is there any legal impediment to filing a notice
to the public in the records of the County Clerk regarding the parcel of
land stating that it is not compliance with the municipality’s zoning code?
Any guidance is appreciated.
Best,
Ray
Robert Ray Jones, Jr., Director
119 N. Robinson Ave., Suite 1200
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
405-235-7471 | 405-232-3852 (fax)
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This transmission is protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy
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As to the second question, this is something we deal with in many of my municipalities on a regular basis. This is particularly true with lot splits. My first question (to the second question) is whether your client has a Planning Commission and a Board of Adjustment.
Beth Anne Childs
The Childs Law Firm, PLLC
1015 South Detroit Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 74120
(918) 521-3092
From: Ray Jones via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2025 3:25 PM
To: Oama List oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Question regarding fines/public notice
Greetings everyone!
So one of my municipalities has no municipal court and it has a couple of issues.
First, it has a number of ordinances that come with fines, many of which are code enforcement. In my opinion, none of the fines are enforceable because the city does not have a municipal court. Excluding the statutes for nuisance abatement regarding property, is there any authority to support the proposition that a municipal ordinance for a fine can be initially enforced within the district court system?
Second, if a citizen has improperly subdivided and sold property to others without following the municipality’s ordinances regarding the subdivision of property and recorded, is there any legal impediment to filing a notice to the public in the records of the County Clerk regarding the parcel of land stating that it is not compliance with the municipality’s zoning code?
Any guidance is appreciated.
Best,
Ray
[cid:image001.png@01DB91D0.48DB2C70]
Robert Ray Jones, Jr., Director
119 N. Robinson Ave., Suite 1200
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
405-235-7471 | 405-232-3852 (fax)
www.lytlesoule.comhttps://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.lytlesoule.com_&d=DwMFAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=nXKfuf4vsSem_u3Z6akkNwa-wdRKfaLyad3_bsmBVW0&m=imDQktB5SwC-WTTS8p-uTZ1pZcjMiav36T_EYuNUkgvjklNQ4WT01pSvpqyUmscd&s=zj1KUnnpKl4Uwy6L3M6L8dMsEXd-Aa7OAqmWThzV-QU&e=
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This transmission is protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. Sections 2510-2521 and is intended to be delivered only to the named addressee(s). E-mail to clients of this firm presumptively contain privileged and confidential information. E-mail to non-clients are presumptively confidential and may be privileged. The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information, directly or indirectly, by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers in which it resides.
Yes, the town does have both a planning commission and a board of adjustment. The citizen bypassed all city involvement, subdivided the property, sold the lots and recorded with the County Clerk.
From: Beth Anne Childs bethanne@thechildsfirm.com
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2025 5:50 PM
To: Oama List oama@lists.imla.org; Ray Jones jones@lytlesoule.com
Subject: Re: Question regarding fines/public notice
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As to the second question, this is something we deal with in many of my municipalities on a regular basis. This is particularly true with lot splits. My first question (to the second question) is whether your client has a Planning Commission and a Board of Adjustment.
Beth Anne Childs
The Childs Law Firm, PLLC
1015 South Detroit Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 74120
(918) 521-3092
From: Ray Jones via Oama <oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2025 3:25 PM
To: Oama List <oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org>
Subject: [Oama] Question regarding fines/public notice
Greetings everyone!
So one of my municipalities has no municipal court and it has a couple of issues.
First, it has a number of ordinances that come with fines, many of which are code enforcement. In my opinion, none of the fines are enforceable because the city does not have a municipal court. Excluding the statutes for nuisance abatement regarding property, is there any authority to support the proposition that a municipal ordinance for a fine can be initially enforced within the district court system?
Second, if a citizen has improperly subdivided and sold property to others without following the municipality's ordinances regarding the subdivision of property and recorded, is there any legal impediment to filing a notice to the public in the records of the County Clerk regarding the parcel of land stating that it is not compliance with the municipality's zoning code?
Any guidance is appreciated.
Best,
Ray
[cid:image001.png@01DB9270.CB6A5EE0]
Robert Ray Jones, Jr., Director
119 N. Robinson Ave., Suite 1200
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
405-235-7471 | 405-232-3852 (fax)
www.lytlesoule.comhttps://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.lytlesoule.com_&d=DwMFAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=nXKfuf4vsSem_u3Z6akkNwa-wdRKfaLyad3_bsmBVW0&m=imDQktB5SwC-WTTS8p-uTZ1pZcjMiav36T_EYuNUkgvjklNQ4WT01pSvpqyUmscd&s=zj1KUnnpKl4Uwy6L3M6L8dMsEXd-Aa7OAqmWThzV-QU&e=
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This transmission is protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. Sections 2510-2521 and is intended to be delivered only to the named addressee(s). E-mail to clients of this firm presumptively contain privileged and confidential information. E-mail to non-clients are presumptively confidential and may be privileged. The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information, directly or indirectly, by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers in which it resides.
