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A class action lawsuit has been filed in New York federal court against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other entities, alleging that consumers are facing exorbitant penalties from tolls.
Plaintiff Jason Farina of Westchester County, N.Y., filed the MTA class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and others who have been charged $100 fees from using New York’s cashless toll systems: EZ Pass and Tolls-By-Mail.
According to the New York toll fees class action lawsuit, all MTA bridges and tunnels switched to cashless toll collecting in 2017. Because of this change, drivers are no longer able to pay cash as toll booths have been dismantled. Instead, tolls are charged using EZ Pass or Tolls-By-Mail.
The EZ Pass tag is a transponder which communicates with the system’s antenna to record information and process a charge for the toll, which is charged to the vehicle owner’s EZ Pass account. If a vehicle is not linked to an EZ Pass account, the Tolls-By-Mail system collects the toll by taking a picture of the vehicle and its license plate, which is used to identify the vehicle owner. A bill for the toll is subsequently mailed to the vehicle owner.
The cashless toll system was meant to eliminate traffic congestion in toll booth lines and allow MTA to shift its employees from collecting tolls into roles focused on the safety and security of motorists.
“However, Defendants — who operate those systems and collect tolls from drivers — have used the cashless toll system to line their own pockets at the expense of drivers, primarily by collecting improper fees and penalties in addition to collecting the tolls,” the MTA toll fee class action lawsuit says.
Farina claims that the penalties faced by drivers who do not pay the toll are often substantially higher than the actual toll and may result in drivers being charged more than $100 to cross a bridge or tunnel. Even worse, the defendants impose these fines without giving prior notice to the drivers and wait weeks before notifying them about the penalties. In the meantime, drivers may unknowingly rack up more charges.
“Defendants also aggressively pursue collection efforts against motorists, threatening them with adverse credit reports, suspension of the driver’s license, revocation of their vehicle registration, and seizure of their tax refunds if they do not immediately pay the fees,” Farina alleges in the MTA toll fee class action lawsuit.
Farina claims that he has been charged more than $6,000 from October 2017 to January 2018 by using his EZ Pass on New York’s bridges and tunnels. He claims he never had any significant problems with his EZ Pass tags or account before experiencing these penalties.
Farina says the defendants’ equipment routinely fails to recognize EZ Pass even when a driver has a fully-funded EZ Pass account. He notes that EZ Pass readings can fail for a variety of reasons, such as window tinting, the position of the vehicle, or a dead EZ Pass battery. EZ Pass users are unable to know when the defendants’ equipment fails to read the EZ Pass.
The MTA class action lawsuit says the toll fees are unconstitutional.
Farina is represented by Stephen J. Fearon Jr. of Squitieri & Fearon LLP.
The MTA Toll Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Jason Farina v. Metropolitan Transportation Authority, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-01433, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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365 thoughts onEZ Pass Class Action Alleges N.Y. Consumers Face Unconstitutional Toll Fees
This needs to be expanded to every instance of cashless tolls. The states have conspired with private entities like EZPass to penalize drivers for not purchasing a private product to travel on public roadways. This is a criminal conspiracy which would be expected from a criminal organization, but states are legalizing this type of extortion for their own benefit and threatening law abiding citizens with penalties of 1/3 to 1/2 increase of the price of the toll, even if they pay on time, because it’s the states themselves who are denying the citizen the possibility of paying in any other way. Last I checked, cash was legal tender for all debts public and private. Bring back a toll collector or two and let people use cash, which they are legally permitted to do.
I have the same problem, my bill is over $20,000 but my account shows under $1,500 in tolls I load my tag since November 2020, and the funds is still there not reading my tag
How do i join this class action suit
How does the MTA get to charge us $100 for each late toll .. i agree that the tolls need to be paid in a timely matter .. but $100 is excessive for commuters that are driving thru awful roads stuck in traffic every day regardless of the cashless . New Yorkers are already paying the highest tolls in the country ..almost 2 years pass and now I get a $4000 bill from the MTA after being told all has been resolved
Hello, I have about $80 in unpaid tolls now equaling over $2200 with fees. How do I join this effort? Thank you for your response.
I would like to know about the lawsuit. For over a year I’ve been calling and emailing the MTA tolls on what I truly owe verse what am told I owe. Finally speaking with an agent calling all over the place, she gave me an 80% discount bringing my total to 11k, then says “this is what I owe if I don’t cross the tolls anymore because ppl are still driving”. A year of calling and this is what am told and there’s no way of a pymnt plan, she said all the money first before they let DMV anything. Unfortunelty I see many New Yorkers are suffering from this and what we are doing is trying to live life the best we can.. but someone is always in someone else’s pockets.
I just got a toll by mail by ny ezpass for a recent trip to ny (may 1st). For years my NH ez pass has worked fine while traveling through NY. I by no means gave the state of NY my permission to invoice me through thier new system. Im already looking to use 20 instead. I feel violated.
Go to the news, NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING OR HELPING DRIVERS. WE ARE BEING EXTORTED.
IS THIS TO PAY FOR MISAPPROPRIATION OF MTA FUNDS?
I would also like to know how to join the lawsuit. I have paid hundreds of dollars in fines because of threats. I have an EZ pass account that EZ pass has been unable to link to my license plate after they revoked my old account because the number on my bank account was changed by my bank when it updated my card. I have been calling multiple times. I just wrote to Patrick Foye. Anyone have other advice? I have to go into the city because my doctor and daughter are there.
My registration has been suspended plates were removed, my car was towed on May 8, 2021. TSTA stated that I owed EZPASS. I had paid over $4k and no one can tell me where the money went after giving dates of when I paid.. Now MTA says I owe over $16 i have to pay for my registration to be restored. That’s RIDICULOUS. I spoke with several agents, one referred me to a supervisor and he stated MTA gave me 80% discount and that if I don’t pay the $16k I will be able to re-register my car.
My registration has been suspended plates were removed, my car was towed on May 8, 2021. TSTA stated that I owed EZPASS. I had paid over $4k and no one can tell me where the money went after giving dates of when I paid.. Now MTA says I owe over $16k have to pay for my registration to be restored. That’s RIDICULOUS. I spoke with several agents, one referred me to a supervisor and he stated MTA gave me 80% discount and that if I don’t pay the $16k I will not be able to re-register my car.
I would like to join this class action law suit. My tag was stolen and being used by someone. I called multiple times to cancel the tag but to no avail. I was charged $25 every time that person used the tag racking up at least $300 in toll fees. Every representative I spoke to told me that the tags were suspended. However, the person was still able to use the suspended tag and my account is being billed. The last time I spoke EZ Pass before today, they assured me that they canceled the tags. However, that same day that they claimed to have canceled the tags, the person went through the toll and I was billed again. I called back again to find out how this was possible. I was told that the person passed through the toll at 9am and I called to report the tag stolen at 11am. Mind you, this was my third time calling to report this tag lost or stolen after I had already logged into my account and reported lost or stolen on their website. This is highway robbery (no pun intended). Something needs to be done to stop this corruption.