PANAMA CITY BEACH — City attorneys have outlined their legal strategy to defend scooter rental ordinances the city has passed, labeling the scooters in a new ordinance a “valuable amusement” instead of a mode of transportation.
But an attorney representing the owner of five scooter rental businesses on the beach who has sued the city and Bay County say the strategy is not going to work once the case soon ends up in court.
Classy Cycles, doing business as California Cycles, has sued the city and Bay County, stating that the regulations they have imposed requiring insurance coverage in the event a rider damages another vehicle or person and a mandate that riders wear florescent green safety vests should be dictated by state law. Classy Cycles contends in court documents that state law supersedes local laws, and state law does not require the insurance coverage or vests.
Since the lawsuit was filed in June, the council has passed several ordinances modifying their previous ones, making changes such as no longer requiring safety flags on the back of scooters and changing the legislation so that safety vests only must to be worn on city streets.
The ordinance the City Council passed last week includes several pages of “whereas” clauses explaining why the city adopted the laws, and city attorneys said it will be introduced in court to help bolster the city’s defense.
“The council finds that rented scooters serve as a valuable amusement for tourist on Panama City Beach and contribute to the fact that Panama City Beach is a ‘Real, Fun, Beach,’ ” one of the clauses reads.
The ordinance also points out the safety hazard associated with the scooters. One “whereas” clause states that: “it is obvious that operators of rented scooters enjoy the experience of moving freely about the city in the fresh air and sunshine, weaving spontaneously through traffic and neighborhoods, and share that joy with their companions when riding in groups: they often point at things, look around, change positions relative to each other and to adjacent traffic, ride more than two abreast, playing ‘leapfrog’ with each other, and make sudden moves and turn when excited by something of interest.”
The latest ordinance includes no new provisions about the insurance or vest requirement, Assistant City Attorney Amy Myers explained to council last week.
“It just ratifies all in one place several ordinances you have adopted,” she said.
But Councilman Keith Curry said he has concerns about passing an ordinance with no new requirements. “We need to be putting ordinances in place that will withstand a lawsuit,” Curry said. “We shouldn’t have to again pass three different ordinances and then pass an ordinance to codify that.”
Panama City Beach City Attorney Doug Sale said the latest ordinance sums up the city’s case after there were changes made to scooter ordinances since May in response to the industry.
“There were substantive changes that did not give us the opportunity to express your conclusions of fact as neatly as we would like to — especially if we know we are facing a court review of why you did what you did,” he said.
The next step in the case is for Classy Cycles to respond in court to the finalized versions of the city’s and county’s ordinances, said Robert Sale, an attorney representing the scooter company in the case. Each year, scooter rentals are required to submit applications for permits to operate, and it is that time of year. If the city and county fail to issue those permits and shut down the scooter businesses, the damages in the case could substantially increase, he said.
“We’ll see whether they are going to enforce the insurance and vest requirements,” Robert Sale said.
He said California Cycles was unable to obtain even the lower insurance requirement the city has adopted, let alone the much higher policy the county is requiring. The city is requiring coverage that amounts to the minimum required by the state on automobiles: $10,000 per person for each crash, $20,000 for all people and $10,000 property damage. Bay County is requiring scooter rental businesses to carry coverage of $1 million in general liability and $500,000 in bodily injury. Legal staff has asked county commissioners to consider a requirement matching the beach’s ordinance, but commissioners have balked at that so far. California Cycles has the one and only scooter rental business in the unincorporated area.
“I don’t know if they are expecting us to get shut down or what the deal is,” Robert Sale said. “We’ll have to have that resolved in court shortly.”
He said the city’s legal strategy portraying scooters as amusement rides is not going to work, pointing out that Panama City Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman recently told the council that spring breakers need to be reminded that scooters are vehicles and they need to follow safety procedures.
“They can regulate amusement rides but they can’t regulate vehicles,” Robert Sale said. “What it boils down to is there is no way these are not vehicles.”