Class Action: FasTrak Toll System Leads to Exorbitant Fines

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against a number of defendants who are responsible for operating unmanned cashless toll systems on California’s highways, alleging they have created a “cynical” plan to impose unconstitutional and excessive fines on drivers.

According to the class action lawsuit, the defendants implemented unmanned cashless toll systems called “FasTrak” throughout Orange County in May 2014. These FasTrak toll systems allow consumers to drive on toll roads without stopping at a toll booth. The FasTrak system also eliminates the expense of having to hire toll booth operators to collect money from drivers.

While the FasTrak system may be convenient for commuters who have pre-arranged accounts, it has caused “mass confusion and outrage” from drivers who don’t have FasTrak accounts.

“These systems do not adequately notify consumers they are entering a toll road, do not advise them of the amount of the tolls they would incur by driving on them, practically require a commuter to record specific entry and exit information while driving, require a consumer to have access to and log on to a computer and the internet, and to locate, proceed to and navigate through a complex interface to pay the toll assessed by the defendants electronically, prior to or within forty eight (48) hours thereof, or to contest it through an unreasonably proscribed, skewed administrative proceeding facially antithetical to any cognizable tenet of due process,” the FasTrak class action lawsuit alleges.

Drivers who fail to complete this series of tasks before the 48-hour period is up will incur “exorbitant fines and penalties,” a strategy that the FasTrak class action lawsuit alleges allows the defendants to establish a “highly profitable enterprise” that generates billions of dollars in returns.

Plaintiff Penny Davidi Borsuk filed the toll fine class action lawsuit after she was allegedly cited for tolls and fines that she wasn’t aware of until it was too late for her to contest them.

“In fact, by the time Plaintiff discovered that her vehicle had been driven on defendants’ toll roads in the first place, and that the tolls were being assessed against her, the tolls, together with draconian penalties thereon she could not afford to pay, had been levied against her as a de facto judgment,” Borsuk alleges in her FasTrak class action lawsuit.

Borsuk claims that the defendants imposed a lien against the registration of her vehicle with the California Department of Motor vehicles, and that as a result, she was unable to afford to renew her registration. According to the toll fine class action lawsuit, Borsuk has been unable to legally drive her vehicle, borrow against it or sell it. This inability to legally use her vehicle has been a major burden, as she has five children she has to drive to and from school, and her job requires the frequent use of a vehicle.

The FasTrak system is allegedly set up so that drivers can incur an astronomical amount of penalties without their knowledge. By statute, the defendants have up to 90 days to notify consumers of a violation. However, by this time, consumers could have unknowingly racked up thousands of dollars in fines and penalties before they were even aware they were in violation. Borsuk asserts that these penalties are excessive and violate consumers’ constitutional right to due process.

Borsuk is represented by Blake J. Lindemann of Lindemann Law Firm.

The California FasTrak Toll System Class Action Lawsuit is Borsuk, et al. v. The Transportation Corridor Agencies, et al., Case No. 8:16-cv-00262, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On April 22, 2016, operators of the Orange County, California toll road system filed a motion to dismiss this class action lawsuit filed by drivers who say the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) imposes exorbitant and unconstitutional toll road fines without due process or proper recourse to contest violations.

UPDATE 2: On Dec. 22, 2016, a federal judge ruled that California motorists can have a chance to resubmit their claims in a consolidated toll roads class action lawsuit.