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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369 thoughts onEZ Pass Class Action Alleges N.Y. Consumers Face Unconstitutional Toll Fees
My car was towed. I was pulled over on FDR Bridge with my 5 and 6 year old daughter taking them to school for the first day of school in August 2021. They took my daughters out of the car on the bridge putting them in danger and placed them in the back of the police car. Thier mother and them were in tears. I never received any notices they are charging me $30,000.00 in violation fees and put my daughters in danger. When I received toll bills only when fees where imposed. I called they said they would give me 80% discount however over $8,000.00 had to be paid in lump sum. This is unconstitutional.
did u end up paying? or you found a way around it? cause I’m due in 2 weeks to pay 5k please brother help me out
Please add me to this class action suit.
I need to be add to this to the are suspend my registration for a bill they say I owe them 49000
Can someone please inform me how I can become part of this lawsuit. I have thousands of dollars owed to EZ pass. I have always received the toll by mail bills late and the 100 dollar “administration fee” added to the toll fee. I have refused to pay this. I have no problem paying the toll fees for what the toll cost, but I am not paying any additional monies for administration fees for bills they are purposefully sending out late just to get more money. I cannot renew my driver’s license because of this. This is highway robbery and a scam and needs to be put to an end.
how do you get added to class action lawsuit?
I got to get out of NY.
Please add me as claimant because EZ pass robbery doing this to my life by rob me $9K
F*CK NEW YORK! F*CK EZ PASS ! F*CK THE BULLSH*T EXTORTION KNOWN AS A BITLICENSE!
I paid bill and the bank released the money but ezpass didn’t do anything on their end to accept the money so after 3 days my bank returned the money to my account unbeknownst to me. so in turn I got a violation and was told that if I purchase an ezpass that they can make the charges go away. I can’t with this God awful state. I’m floored that they are allowed to extort people like this!
I need to file claim
Ho can i be added to this suit? I also have had outrageous ezpass charges.
The Bridge and Tunnel Authority
Have charged my daughter and I nearly $16,000 this is unconstituional
Now is the time to support the NRA, if the can steel from you, next they will kill you. What a wake up call.
i want to be added to this list. I find it ridiculous that EZ Pass charges $100 fees. i received a letter that I owe $18,000 at a time of pandemic they changed all their bridges and tunnels to EZ Pass no cash and now I have this issue.
Please add me !!! I’ve received unnecessary bills totaling $300 plus. I need to be apart is this lawsuit
My car was towed out from under me while driving to work.$26800 in ezpass fines.
My account statement says I owe $10.