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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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364 thoughts onEZ Pass Class Action Alleges N.Y. Consumers Face Unconstitutional Toll Fees
I just received notice I have till the 21st of Sept to pay 17k in fees for $400 in tolls. They offered me a $5000 settlement. I will not pay this as I feel it is unconstitutional.
Please add me to your list.
Got a suspension letter from EZ pass that I owed $880 in tolls and $1800 in fees that I’ve sent back the toll by mail with my ez pass number on thee to be told that they have no record . Tell me the scanner isn’t picking up my ez pass and if I don’t pay it.my vehicle is band from using the bridges and tunnels . They’re robbing people and I would like to find out what lawsuit can I get involve with. Last year I’ve pay
I’d more than $8000 in fees . Contact my senator and got no answer back . Is. Sick of New York robbing the working people .why the tolls are going up when you have no one working there. Really!
I would like to be added to this suit as well
How do we get added to the list
My registration was suspended a few days ago due to being charged $20k+ in fees, a majority for tolls which I was never given a due date for before the fees were tacked on. I even sent them a letter stating such and they merely ignored it and just suspended my registration without really giving me any info other than “pay us.” I’m going to contact them but I would like to know what I can do on my end.
Please add me. They are saying I owe over $5,000 in fees and have suspended my registration. This is crazy
Please adx me, I’ve falling into this same rip off by the mta nyc
I have $1200 in unpaid tolls and $41587 in fees when I called they want 1/2 now and a payment plan,
I just filed bankrupcvy and my house was foreclose where does the MTA think i am going to find 40K or 20K
its a scarry place rnand i need help my registration was suspended because of this
most recent situation, yesterday I called ezpass, tolls by mail and , nj authority to make sure my account is in good standing, it was – I only paid 14$ to tolls by mail. I had a previous payment plan with transworld I called today to finish paying off – I set this payment plan on nov 3 2022, today they told me I owe another 3k that was submitted to them on nov 8th 2022. I asked do you guys call to collect? because I have never been notified – she said” checking notes, it looks like we haven’t called. we sent ONE letter that was returned in dec” that is it???????? now, I had called back in November I paid all my outstanding fees – so how where they submitted nov 8th after the fact. They do not provide accurate information or do not check all the different accounts they create under one license plate leaving us blind sided. back in November I as well called nj to clear everything up – paid my dues. paid another collections I had w/ alliance who sent it to payment solutions. and now I have today another 3k from 2022 tolls that they did not tell me about when I was under the impression I had cleared everything. NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE.!
Pleas at me to this action against this unlawful practice they robbing us and not ones seen to care about us .. if any they we can all do please let us know…