A New York City shop owner who was fined $60,000 for selling lighters in the shape of guns is now fighting back, filing a suit to get the punishment tossed.
The store, the US Camera & Computers, was given the hefty fine in 2011 for breaking a city law that bans shops from selling items that can be mistaken for actual guns, Fox News reported. After receiving the citation, the store’s owner sent the lighters back to the manufacturing company. But that didn’t stop the city from going forth with the fine, Fox News said.
And US Camera & Computers is angry, calling the Department of Consumer Affairs’ issuance of the maximum-penalty fine “arbitrary and capricious,” The New York Daily News reported.
The Daily News reported that the company is now suing the city, claiming that its owners were not given a fair chance to give evidence at the hearing where the fine was imposed. Company officials are suing to have the fine rescinded or at least reduced, Fox News reported.
The city’s response: The fine “was imposed after a fair and thorough hearing and is supported by the evidence,” a spokesman said in the Fox News report.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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