$38.75M Chicago Traffic Camera Settlement Resolves Two Class Actions

A Chicago traffic camera settlement will benefit drivers who say they were hit with traffic fines without first receiving proper notice of their violations.

The settlement arises out of two separate traffic camera lawsuits in which plaintiffs attempted to hold the city to its own requirement that it give drivers a second notice of violation before making an administrative determination of liability.

Under terms of the settlement, Chicago will issue a total of $38.75 million in benefits to more than 1.2 million drivers who were assessed fines on tickets issued using traffic cameras.

Of the total settlement amount, $26.75 million is designated for payments to qualifying drivers who paid traffic camera tickets issued from 2010 to 2015. Affected drivers could receive a payment representing half the amount they were required to pay. The remaining $12 million will be used to forgive unpaid tickets.

The city also agrees not to count tickets adjudicated without proper notice towards the number of violations that could qualify a car for booting or a driver for license suspension.

The litigation leading to this Chicago traffic camera settlement began in March 2015, with allegations that the city had failed to send ticket recipients a second notice of violation before issuing a final determination of fault. At the time, the city’s municipal code required issuance of a second notice.

In February 2016, Cook County Judge Kathleen G. Kennedy issued an order requiring Chicago to issue the required second notices.

The city responded by getting rid of the second notice requirement. The Automated Enforcement Violation Review and Refund Ordinance went into effect in September 2016, amending the municipal code to remove the requirement of a second notice.

The ordinance also gave the city a chance to reopen and relitigate administrative determinations on tickets issued between 2010 and 2015.

Plaintiffs Delyn McKenzie-Lopez and Erica Lieschke then filed the second Chicago traffic camera lawsuit, arguing that the ordinance would unfairly allow the city a second chance at prosecuting traffic violation cases that had already been resolved. Doing so would violate drivers’ right to due process under the U.S. Constitution, the plaintiffs argued.

The current Chicago traffic camera settlement resolves both these traffic camera lawsuits. These two court actions are just part of the greater controversy over the Chicago traffic camera system.

The settlement will be partly funded by $10 million in payments from yet another Chicago traffic camera settlement over allegations that a city official accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to steer traffic camera contracts to Arizona contractor Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. That prosecution resulted in a 30-month prison sentence for Redflex’s CEO and a 10-year sentence for the city official who accepted the bribes.

The traffic camera class action settlement must be approved by the Chicago city council, which is expected to consider it this Wednesday.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Counsel for the plaintiffs are attorneys from Myron M. Cherry & Associates LLC.

The Chicago Traffic Camera Tickets Class Action Lawsuits are Willis, et al. v. City of Chicago, case number 16CH14304, and McKenzie-Lopez et al. v. City of Chicago, case number 15CH04802, both in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

UPDATE: October 2017, the Chicago red light camera class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.