California Toll Roads Class Action Lawsuit Granted Certification

A federal judge recently certified a Class of drivers in a class action lawsuit alleging that California toll operators use personal information to collect toll payments. The judge also trimmed some of the claims in the case.

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford certified one of the proposed Classes in the California toll class action.

Judge Guilford certified the privacy Class, made up of California drivers whose information was allegedly shared with third parties in order to collect toll payments.

In the original definition of the privacy Class included any individual who “had their privacy rights violated by the improper dissemination of their [personal identifying information] in connection with the toll roads operated by defendants.”

However, before certification, it had to be ensured that the Class was not a “fail-safe” Class. The court imposed limits on the Class’ membership so that qualifying Class Members were those drivers who had their information shared with specific agencies and debt collection offices in violation of the California Streets and Highways Code Section 31490.

Although the privacy Class was certified, the second penalty Class was not. Judge Guilford found that the proposed Class failed to satisfy Rule 23 requirements which consider providing notice to Class Members.

“In short, the proposed class is too muddled for the court to understand what a representative action would look like, or what purpose it would serve,” Judge Guilford stated.

Despite the fact that only one proposed Class was certified by the court, class counsel voiced their approval of the move in a statement.

“We are pleased with the court’s certification of the privacy class in this hard­fought matter — this decision is an important step forward for drivers on the toll roads in Orange County seeking compensation for the improper dissemination of their personally identifiable information to third parties,” said Class counsel in a statement to Law360.

In a separate order, Judge Guilford kept due process claims but denied excessive fines claims, finding that the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) California toll fines were not excessive as the plaintiffs had claimed.

“Regarding penalties, the initial TCA penalty for a toll violation is $57.50, and the maximum combined TCA penalty for any toll violation is $100,” Judge Guilford said in his ruling. “A penalty of either $57.50 or $100 isn’t a grossly disproportional punishment for the failure to pay a $32.32 toll. The TCA penalty scheme may therefore be applied in a constitutional manner.”

The California toll class action was originally filed in February 2016. In April of the same year, the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) motioned to dismiss the claims, citing multiple holes in the plaintiffs’ argument.

In January 2017, Judge Guilford found that the plaintiffs in the case did not exhaust all administrative remedies before filing their California toll class action, but gave them the chanc to amend their claims and resubmit as a consolidated class action.

Plaintiffs are represented by Michael J. Flannery and Matthew Prewitt of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP; Blake J. Lindemann of Lindemann Law Firm APC; and Helen I. Zeldes, Andrew J. Kubik, and Ben Travis of Coast Law Group LLP.

The California Toll Road Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Toll Roads Litigation, Case No. 8:16­-cv- ­00262, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.