OCEAN SPRINGS, MS (GC Wire) – A federal judge has denied Ocean Springs’ attempt to inject nearly half a million dollars into the ongoing Securix lawsuit, ruling the city waited too long and that the issue does not belong in this case.
Through its City Attorney David Harris, Ocean Springs asked the Court for permission to deposit $468,681 — its share of money collected through the Securix uninsured motorist program — and have the judge determine who, if anyone, is entitled to it.
The request, known as an interpleader, would have allowed the city to place the funds under the Court’s control and shield itself from possible future lawsuits.
The judge said no.
The ruling comes in the case titled Divine v. Securix, LLC. Amy Divine, a resident of Madison County, filed suit after she received a ticket in the mail. She was joined by two other plaintiffs in the case who also received tickets from the Ocean Springs program.
Despite the program being overseen by city officials and using its police officers to certify citations, plaintiffs did not name Ocean Springs as a defendant in the case.
Ocean Springs contracted with the Atlanta based Securix company between 2021 and 2023 to help nab motorists driving without insurance through the use of cameras and and an automated ticket-by-mail process.
What the City Was Trying to Do
Ocean Springs did not attempt to intervene in the case until November 2025, nearly three years after the lawsuit was filed. By that point, the case had already changed significantly.
What began as a potential class action involving a large number of drivers had been narrowed through a series of rulings. When the City filed its motion, only two plaintiffs remained, and the amount directly at issue had been reduced to roughly $400.
The city’s request sought to bring nearly $470,000 into a case that had already been reduced to a much smaller dispute.
Why the Court Said No
The Court found the city’s request came too late. Allowing the city to enter the case now would expand a lawsuit that has already been pared down, complicating a matter that is close to resolution.
The Court also found that attempting to add nearly half a million dollars to a case centered on a few hundred dollars simply did not fit. The judge described the request as “impractical and unnecessary.”
In short, the Court determined that this was not the time — or the case — to resolve those broader financial questions.
What the Ruling Means for Ocean Springs
The denial leaves Ocean Springs in a position it was trying to avoid.
Had the Court granted the motion, the city could have turned over the funds and asked the Court to allow it to wash its hands of any potential future lawsuits. With the motion denied, the city remains outside the case, still holding the funds, and without a ruling on what ultimately should happen to them.
If those funds are challenged, it will likely happen in new lawsuits, not this one.
What’s Left of the Case and Why it Still Matters to Ocean Springs
The ruling comes alongside earlier decisions that have trimmed the case down to its core.
Federal claims have been dismissed. Class certification has been denied. Several state-law claims have been resolved in favor of Securix.
What remains is a single issue: whether Securix should be allowed to keep the money collected from two individuals.
The amount at stake in the courtroom is small. The legal question behind it is not.
What the Court Didn’t Decide
There is a reason this case has narrowed the way it has.
The Court never took up the central question of how the program itself operated under Mississippi law.
That’s not because the issue was resolved.
It’s because the City of Ocean Springs was never sued.
The plaintiffs brought their claims against Securix, the private company involved in the program—not the city or the officials who designed and implemented it. As a result, the Court’s rulings have focused only on what Securix did, not how the system as a whole functioned.
That distinction matters.
Because some of the clearest evidence about how the program actually worked comes from the city itself.
The City’s Own Description
In response to a public records request, then-City Clerk Patty Gaston described the program in plain terms:
“The city does not have the Securix citations as they were not ran thru our court system. The citations are for the diversion program and the officer was paid by Securix not the city.”
That statement confirms three key facts:
- The citations were not processed through municipal court.
- The officers issuing them were paid by a private company.
- The city did not maintain records of the citations.
Those aren’t technical details. They go directly to how traffic enforcement is supposed to work.
Why That Matters Under State Law
Mississippi law lays out a basic framework for handling traffic violations.
Citations are issued through the Uniform Traffic Ticket system. Cases are expected to move through municipal or justice court. And those actions generate public records maintained by the government.
At the same time, state law places limits on how public officials are compensated and restricts outside financial arrangements tied to official duties.
Measured against that framework, the City’s own description raises a simple question:
If citations were not run through the court system, if officers were paid by a private company, and if the city kept no records — what legal structure was this program operating under?
Why the Court Didn’t Answer That Question
The Court didn’t answer that question because it wasn’t asked to.
The case was not structured to examine whether Ocean Springs complied with state law when it set up and ran the program.
Instead, the Court addressed a narrower set of claims tied specifically to Securix.
In its most recent rulings, the Court dismissed claims that Securix abused legal process. It did not determine whether the program itself was lawful, whether the city’s role was proper, or whether the structure of the system complied with Mississippi law.
Those issues remain unresolved.
What the Court did allow to move forward may ultimately matter more. The remaining claim of unjust enrichment goes to the core issue:
Was the money collected through this program taken lawfully?
That question now heads to trial.
And while it applies only to two plaintiffs in this case, the underlying issue is the same for every person who paid a Securix ticket.
Why This Could Reach Beyond This Case
According to records, more than 10,000 citations were issued in Ocean Springs, and roughly 3,000 motorists paid those tickets.
The Divine case involves about $400, but the legal question behind it applies to all of it.
If a court ultimately determines that those payments were not legally justified, the impact would not be limited to the two remaining plaintiffs.
It could open the door to:
- Additional lawsuits from other motorists,
- Claims seeking repayment of funds,
- And legal challenges aimed directly at the City.
In that sense, this case is no longer just about what happened to two people.
It’s a test of whether the system itself holds up. And that could run beyond Ocean Springs to affect other municipalities that also ran the program.
How This Ties Back to the City’s Risk
That is why the city’s failed attempt to deposit $468,681 with the Court matters.
Ocean Springs tried to bring its share of the money into this case and resolve the issue here.
The Court refused.
So now, the case will move forward without the city, but the question of whether the money was lawfully collected remains very much alive.
And if that question is answered against the program, it won’t stop with Securix.
It will reach the entity that authorized it, participated in it, and took its share of the money.
At that point, the city could only hope the statute of limitations runs out before new lawsuits are filed.
