RALEIGH - State troopers are too heavy-handed when writing tickets as high as $25,000 for overweight trucks, according to several trucking and heavy equipment companies that have sued to overturn the patrol's system of assessing fines.

Six companies filed lawsuits in Wake County against the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, which oversees the highway patrol. They claim that troopers are illegally using lesser violations as a basis to decide that special permits for heavy trucks are totally invalid, allowing the steep fines. A judge has already sided with one company.

The complaint from the trucking companies, five of which are represented by the same lawyer, comes as the highway patrol has doubled its enforcement of the restrictions and begun writing tickets for sums near the maximum allowed.

The companies are asking to pay only the fines for the lesser violations, up to $1,000, and have the big fines -- ranging from $22,120 to $25,000 -- thrown out. The lawsuits also seek to have a judge declare the fines excessive and unconstitutional.

Patrol officials are unapologetic.

"We're not interested in how much money it generates," said Lt. Everett Clendenin, the patrol's spokesman. "We're trying to make the highways safe."

The state had long been lax about ticketing trucks that exceed the weight limits on state highways, according to a 2005 News & Observer investigation. Overweight trucks cause an estimated $130 million worth of damage to North Carolina roads each year, according to figures generated by the transportation department.

Since troopers got the authority to penalize overweight trucks in 2004, they have assessed $38.8 million in fines, according to Clendenin. The money eventually goes to public school systems.

Most tickets are not appealed; only 1 percent of ticketed truckers file protests, according to statistics provided by the patrol.

The challenge to the state's enforcement has attracted the attention of both the highway patrol and the N.C. Trucking Association, which is keeping tabs on how the lawsuits fare. Association representatives say they are not involving themselves in the litigation.

Several trucking companies claim that the patrol isn't giving credit to companies trying to play by the rules. The companies say they get socked for violations that seem relatively minor, such as having only one escort vehicle instead of the two required to travel in front of and behind trucks over the state's weight limits.

In one case, a Superior Court judge sided with Daily Express, a Pennsylvania trucking company, and threw out a $24,493 fine on Dec. 31. A written order is expected in coming days.

The other companies -- Cox & Floyd Grading of South Carolina, Earthmovers Equipment and Keen Transport, both of Pennsylvania, Valley Transportation of Minnesota, West Side Heavy Hauling of Kentucky -- claim that troopers fined them too much when drivers were caught without the two escort vehicles required by law.

The companies argue in the suits that they played by the state's rules by making sure they had permits to operate overweight or oversize trucks while carrying heavy equipment and other extraordinary loads. They say troopers stepped out of bounds by declaring the permits void and assessing fines that would have been given for vehicles with no permit at all.

Those fines approach the cap of $25,000. Companies are charged for each pound over 80,000, with some vehicles weighing 181,000 pounds.

Offending justice

Susan L. Dunathan, a Raleigh lawyer representing five of the companies, wrote that the patrol's decision to issue citations and fine a company $24,911.65 for a truck having only one escort is "arbitrary" and offends "all sense of justice."

She declined to comment.

Clendenin said the high fines are meant as a deterrent. If a company knew it would be fined no more than $500, Clendenin said, the company might take a chance and ignore the safety requirements in the law, Clendenin said.

Dunathan and officials of the N.C. Trucking Association, which represents more than 400 carriers and related businesses, said they know of no coordination among trucking companies. The association will not publicly weigh in on the issue, said president Charlie Diehl.

Diehl said he knew of the suits but said excessive fines mostly affected out-of-state truckers, who aren't as well-informed about the laws as North Carolina truckers are. "Those that are aware of what the requirements are are complying," he said.

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