Jennifer Fitzgerald, an unemployed single mother, has racked up over $105,000 in parking ticket fines for a car that she wasn't aware she owned that was left at O'Hare airport for three years. Fitzgerald says the car was purchased by her then-boyfriend, but he registered it in Fitzgerald's name without telling her. When they broke up in 2009, he left the car at the airport.
Now three years later, the car has received 687 parking tickets, equaling a hefty $105,761.81 fine. The Expired Meter reports that it's the highest ever fine in Chicago history, with second place only coming in at $65,000 and more than 400 tickets.
Fitzgerald claimed to The Expired Meter that she didn't know the car was parked in the airport. However, even if she did, Chicago law states that any car parked for more than 30 days in a city-owned lot is subject to an immediate tow to a city pound or authorized garage. She's arguing that the majority of the tickets would not have even been issued if the car had been towed.
Fitzgerald found out about the car when the first parking tickets arrived, and she asked for it to be towed away because she did not have the keys. She had the car's license plates revoked in 2010, but it was not towed until October of 2012 -and the tickets piled up all that time. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald has lost her driver's license because of the debt. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Flickr user alicegop)
But...did this woman really not know about the car? Were there no taxes or registration fees?