In a Friday announcement, Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner (BMW) R. Scott Waddell said that Indiana is temporarily halting its vanity license program, pending the outcome of a class action lawsuit.

The move implies that the personalized license plate program in the State is being temporarily suspended till the court gives its ruling in the case which challenges the constitutionality of BMW's restrictions on the wording of the tags.

Blaming the suspension of the vanity plate program on the legal challenge, Waddell said that those who already have personalized plates can keep them, and even have them renewed, but others who fancy a plate which tells the world "IMGR8" or "UR2CLOS" will have to "W8"till the outcome of the lawsuit.

Waddell said in a statement that, with effect from 6:00pm Friday, July 19, the BMV "will not accept any new applications for a personalized plate until a determination can be made on this most recent filing."

Noting that the personalized license plate program is "one of the BMV's longest standing programs," and the latest in a series of legal complications for the BMV, Waddell said that the decision to temporarily suspend the program has been taken "in order to protect Hoosier taxpayers from the considerable expense that these types of lawsuits bring."