A federal class action claims California's Administrative Office of the Courts and the state Supreme Court are "using the Administrative Office of the Courts as a collection agency to build new courthouses for themselves," by adding fees for a "Courthouse Construction Fund" to traffic tickets and other fines.
Lead plaintiff Jessee Welch Jr. calls this "self dealing" by the defendant agencies, which have an unbearable conflict of interest that can be expressed by a simple equation: "Convictions = Courthouse, No Convictions = No Courthouse."
