Woman Avoids Parking Ticket Thanks to Poor Punctuation

9 years, 4 months ago - 6 July 2015, Autoblog

A woman in Ohio avoided a parking ticket when she pointed out a missing comma that she claims made the law too confusing to follow. It happened in the small town of Middletown, Ohio, where an ordinance lists certain vehicles that can't be parked on the street for extended periods of time.

The law in question lists vehicles that can not be parked more than 24 hours, including "motor vehicle camper," according to Business Insider. Andrea Cammelleri took this law to mean that mobile homes could not be parked for 24 hours on city streets, but figured her pickup truck would be just fine. When she found a ticket on her truck the next day, she decided to fight it. She argued she couldn't abide by the law not just because the law was worded wrong, but because she was unable to understand the law as it was written. The city argued that it obviously meant to say "motor vehicle, camper," but didn't have a copy editor on hand to make sure the comma was in the right spot.

Unfortunately for Middletown, a judge with the 12th Ohio District Court of Appeals agreed with Cammelleri. He forgave the ticket and directed the city to clarify the law if it wanted to keep enforcing the ordinance.