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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
Add me to this case please mta is taking advantage of us hard working people
Please add me to this list. My poor 75 year old mother in law has been taken advantage of, they tell her one thing than when I call and request recorded conversations of calls they try to settle things yet her account never gets right due to violations. I opened my own ez pass account in October 2023 and have documented everything tolls by mail says I owe 6000. I have evidence of payments, proof they are over charging and all calls are recorded with ez pass employee id.
Please add me to this list. My poor 75 year old mother in law has been taken advantage of, they tell her one thing than when I call and request recorded conversations of calls they try to settle things yet her account never gets right due to violations. I opened my own ez pass account in October 2023 and have documented everything tolls by mail says I owe 6000. I have evidence of payments, proof they are over charging and all calls are recorded with ez pass employee id#.
Please add me to the class action.
Please add me to the list- backlog of fines spanning 5-6 years. my account was active with money in it. when I was notified that I had a 1200 dollar balance. I went to the ez pass walk-in to pay it and they told me I had $500.00 in violations spanning years and $12,000 in violations. How is that not extortion? Forced to pay fees for tolls I did not know about and did not show up on my ezpass account( when it works). Then put a block on my registration until I pay their fees?
Good day, my name is Brian and I like many others have had a major problem with ezpass. I am a construction inspector. I was working on the bridge during the removal of the tolls and periodically since then.
I would like to start by saying I have no one else to blame but myself, that being said the violation cost per toll is criminal and another typical example of money grab by NYC on there residents, making it nearly impossible to survive here. That being said here is my story.
During the time I was working on the Whitestone Bridge my credit card information was stolen and all attached accounts to the card were canceled out. Ezpass was one of those accounts. Where I messed up was I never reattached the new card to the account and did not notice for a year or so. Once I noticed it was too late. I was told to much time had passed.
There were days I would drive back and forth on Bridge four to six times a day. That is about $45 in tolls but $600 in violations. I had $3700 in tolls and $46,000 in violations.
I understand I messed up, but to owe $45,000 is completely unacceptable. I do not understand how NYC is able to get away with this.
It has absolutely ruined my life. I am currently on a payment agreement with ezpass to avoid suspension of my registration. I had to get a second job to pay for the tolls. It has ruined my relationship with my wife due to the financial stress and lack of time with her because of my work schedule. We are now in the process of getting a divorce. I also have my daughter who is 15 asking me when I am going to quit my other job.
Having a Similar situation with EZ pass I owe 3 k My registration is suspended and i don’t know on how to address this issue I need help and Guidance.
Same here, 2K the DMV says I owe, despite the fact that I have a valid, paid ez pass account, with a transponder in my car smh my registration is suspended and the DMV is telling me I have to pay them 2 k to lift the suspension smh It is so unconscionable. Their practices are very predatory.
Same here ! $14000 reduced to 4000 from pandemic days when I was told to pay 500 and nothing further due!! Let’s get them
These people are seriously DISGUSTING. They are making they own rules and charging whatever they feel like charging. I owe under $l000 in tolls and they added $100 to every toll. I can’t every figure out the amount of interest. The said I owe $72,000 but they will give me a settlement for $21,000. EZ PASS stated that I have to pay $10,000 down and a $2,000 monthly payment or my registration will be suspended and my car will be towed. They will not deal with me at all if I don’t make the down payment. The only way is to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy so you can keep your registration and asset. You will still have to pay what EZPASS wants you to pay with the Bankruptcy, no late fee nor the interest add can be disputed. Finding an attorney for this situation is not easy. Several lawyers that I’ve contacted will not take this case, and seems confused about this situation as well…MTA EZPASS Bridge and Tunnels are Savages.
This is nothing more than theft under color of law (look that term up if you don’t know what it means). I had a toll by mail charge of $7.98 plus $2.00 in fees in late June. The statement I got in the mail got lost under a bunch of paperwork and I failed to pay on time. Despite having paid all my other tolls in the past, I recently received a red envelope from the so-called violations bureau accusing me of evading tolls and upping the amount owed to $58.00. Mind you, this was for crossing ONE bridge in June. This is criminal and needs to be rectified immediately. I don’t know if it is just a judge, or a full jury that presides over a case like this, but if I were on a jury for this case, I would be inclined to make them refund all the late fees and bogus “violation” fees, plus add punitive damages in the millions as a deterrent to prevent future crimes against the drivers who use EZ Pass or are subject to tolls by mail. God bless the lawyers working on this case. You deserve every penny of your fees. Hit them with all you’ve got!
Been dealing with this since the beginning. Im currently over 30k in fees alone all my tolls are paid up to date but am still having my registration suspended bc of the fees. They came to a settlement of 9k which is still unaffordable. The system is messed up also had different people within mta or collections telling me different cost to get my suspension lifted. Add me to the list please
Please. Add me to the list. Penalties/Administration Fees are triple the amount of the toll(s).
EzPass Tag Bill is paid but violations aren’t visible on the account when reviewed online.
It’s simply unclear how or why the fees are decided based on a service being removed that I’m going to assume the consumer DID NOT ask for the Cash Toll Booth to be removed.