LA kept overcharging him for the parking ticket – even after it was dismissed

Paul Cook was not about to fold – not with the words of Mohandas Gandhi ringing in his ears.

Never mind that the story between David and Goliath was a parking ticket he couldn’t pay. Never forget that if he was David, then Goliath was the parking lot of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which was very difficult to challenge. I don’t know that even his friends told him that fighting would be a waste of time.

“People are just like, ‘You can’t win against them,'” Cook said. “To me, it’s just – it’s not right.”

So drawing on Gandhi’s teachings about the unwavering power of righteous “soul power” to overcome the greatest obstacles, Cook set out on a 16-month journey through LA’s byzantine parking dispute process.

Cook’s story begins on Dec. 19, 2024, in Chinatown, when he returned to his car to find a yellow envelope tucked under his windshield wiper. Recalling the day in a recent interview with The Times, Cook was quick to exasperate the bureaucratic odyssey presented by the yellow slip. He is not only upset because he feels that his time has been wasted, but also because he knows that many others who do not have his legal background, patience or knowledge of the media could just pay the fine.

“The city of Los Angeles is insane,” Cook told The Times. “You get a parking ticket, they want their pound of flesh.”

Cook had pulled up to 812 N. Broadway that day to meet a friend for a little money. He did not see any signs prohibiting parking at the exit, and the edge of the road was not painted red, he said. And yet, when he came back, there was the envelope, with a $93 fine inside for parking somewhere he shouldn’t have gone.

Frustrated, Cook took a photo of the car and the ticket and, after speaking with a parking enforcement officer, filed a complaint. The Department of Transportation upheld the ticket the following February, and Cook appealed again. On Dec. 30, 2025, stood before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge and presented color prints of his parked car as evidence.

It worked.

“The court finds that the citation was improperly issued,” the judge concluded, according to a copy of the final decision. “There is no other payment to be made.”

One might think that the story would end there.

One could be wrong.

Although satisfied that he had won, Cook was angry at the time and the effort it had taken him to prove his case. So, in addition to mailing the judge’s decision, the parking division, on Jan. 20 he sent the Department of Transportation a request for $30.63 – the cost of printing photos for the court hearing and putting mileage on his car.

Then things got spicy – and confusing.

On March 2, City Administrator Rose Dymally wrote to Cook in an email reviewed by The Times that she needed physical proof that the ticket was dismissed, mailed or delivered “directly” to the Parking Violations Bureau.

“As of today, LADOT has not received the court order’s official minutes in the mail,” the email said. “While we have reviewed the copies of the email you provided regarding the citation deferral and cost summary memorandum, please be aware that our department does not currently accept electronic filing services.”

Undeterred but undeterred, Cook sent these documents again. This time, he added a court order to support his payment request, meaning the city would have to pay $40 more, more than doubling the amount owed, records show.

“See how they feel about it,” Cook said, enjoying the sarcasm.

Those documents came out on March 8, Cook said.

But the parking department had sent him something, too: A new grand total for the first ticket, about $210. He was late in paying the $93 fine, the notice told him, so it has more than doubled.

About two weeks after Cook emailed Dymally about the notice, he asked her if she had sent the paper copies to the court order office.

“Thank you for your continued patience and assistance in completing this matter,” Dymally wrote.

Cook was impatient.

He gave a quick reply: “I don’t know what else I can do for you … I have done my best to give you these documents several times.”

Cook emailed CBS LA and revealed the story of his battle with the parking department. The TV station contacted the Ministry of Transport about the matter, the producer told him.

He also received another bill in the mail. His fine increased to $265.75.

Finally, this week, Cook got the email he’d been waiting for — confirmation from the parking department that they had received the court records and could proceed. The end, it seems, is indeed near.

The Department of Transport confirmed to The Times that it has received the necessary documents.

“LADOT could not take action to overturn this decision before receiving formal notice of the court’s decision,” the department said in an emailed response to questions. “LADOT has now received all of the official verified documents and forwarded them to our processing contractors to begin the process of rescinding the court-ordered citation.”

Cook is still waiting for his check.