Judge halts Houston's red-light camera removal — for now

A federal judge on Friday ordered that the city of Houston's red-light cameras not be taken down while litigation involving the devices works through the courts.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes issued an injunction ordering the city to continue collecting fines for tickets issued through Nov. 15, when Mayor Annise Parker announced that the cameras had been turned off.

Houston voters rejected the devices in a referendum earlier this month, prompting the city to file a lawsuit seeking a federal judge's blessing for its efforts to unwind the contract still in effect with American Traffic Solutions, the operator of the cameras.

The contract, which covers the use of 70 devices at 50 intersections, was scheduled to run until 2014. In the event of a cancellation, ATS had 45 days to take the cameras down.

The order issued on Friday halts the removal of the cameras until the matter is resolved in federal court.

The devices issued more than 800,000 tickets since 2006, generating more than $44 million in fines that was shared among the Houston Police Department, Texas hospitals and the Arizona-based camera company.

The city and ATS will brief the validity of the referendum under municipal, state and national laws by next Friday, according to Hughes' order.

bradley.olson@chron.com