Chicago Class Action Says Drivers Illegally Charged Duplicate Tickets

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Two drivers allege in a class action lawsuit that Chicago issues multiple pricey vehicle sticker tickets, along with tickets for expired registrations, in violation of its own laws.

Plaintiffs Orlando Jones and Rodney Shelton claim that they and other residents were charged for having expired Chicago city stickers on multiple occasions within the same day.

The problem, according to the Chicago class action lawsuit, is that the city is prohibited from issuing more than one Chicago city vehicle sticker ticket per day by its own ordinances.

According to the Chicago ticket class action lawsuit, city residents are required to have a current Chicago city vehicle sticker, in addition to being subject to the Chicago Wheel Tax.

If a motorist fails to purchase and display a sticker, they can be subject to steep fines.

“City sticker violations are one of the priciest tickets motorists can get in the city, the cost of which increased by 67 percent as part of the city’s 2012 budget,” alleges the Chicago city sticker class action lawsuit.

“To make matters worse, the City has also engaged in an illegal practice of issuing duplicative City sticker tickets – i.e., two or more City sticker tickets to the same vehicle on the same day, a practice specifically prohibited under the Municipal Code of Chicago,” the Chicago ticket class action states.

The plaintiffs accuse city officials of attempting to unfairly generate more revenue from residents by over-issuing Chicago city sticker tickets.

In fact, according to a ProPublica study cited in the complaint, unpaid tickets are even causing an increase in bankruptcies within the city.

“The reason the city does this is simple: money,” the plaintiffs state in their Chicago class action lawsuit. “The more citations it issues the more revenue it generates.”

According to the Chicago city sticker ticket class action lawsuit, a single citation amounts to $200 in fees and nearly $500, if late and collection fees are included. Multiple tickets issued each day takes a toll that many lower income residents cannot afford.

The ProPublica report, as cited in the Chicago ticket class action lawsuit, indicates that some residents, particularly low income and minority residents, have had to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy to hold on to their vehicles.

Additionally, people have reported liens, garnished wages, and losing their vehicles to multiple daily Chicago city sticker tickets.

According to the Chicago vehicle tickets class action lawsuit, city officials have paid mere “lip service” to the problem of duplicative Chicago city sticker tickets.

In fact, after a follow-up report by ProPublica revealed that the city had not refunded any duplicative tickets, city officials responded by telling Chicago drivers to “Take us to court.”

“Plaintiffs intend to do just that on behalf of not only themselves but all others affected by the City’s illegal duplicative ticketing practice,” contends the Chicago city sticker ticket class action lawsuit.

The Chicago vehicle ticket class action lawsuit says it is seeking “to get the City to do what it should have done in the first place and which it initially said it was going to do on its own: provide refunds of the illegal fines and penalties and extinguish the unlawful debt.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Myron M. Cherry, Jacie C. Zolna, Benjamin R. Swetland, and Jessica C. Chavin of Myron M. Cherry & Associates LLC.

The Chicago City Sticker Ticket Class Action Lawsuit is Jones, et al. v. City of Chicago, Case No. 2018CH14812, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.