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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 a collection letter for $68.70 from MTA bridges and tunnels Ez pass and I had no idea why. So I called up And found out it was from when my vehicle was transported from New York to Missouri because I moved across the country. So I figured it would be an easy fix right… wrong. I supervisor told me that it is not their responsibility to refund me I shouldn’t of had an easy pass in my vehicle at the time of transport are you kidding so you charged the transporter and myself and that’s not illegal. It should be on video that my car was on a giant truck with a whole bunch other vehicles. It should be on video that my car was on a giant truck with a whole bunch other vehicles they told me no not their problem I can take it up with the transporter and the collection agency it’s out of their hands they don’t care. I am furious now I have a collection agency after me for charges I never should’ve gotten with no assistance whatsoever. I want in on this. I know have this on my credit reports and can’t get it off.
I want to be on this
i recieved 10 violations when i xhecked online .. nothing but when i called they said i had to pay. I paid over $800.00
This is insane! I received a Bill of 2,000$ from Tolls by mail. They claimed I never paid my tolls for November 2017 or December 201. In November and December I got toll bills and made sure I payed them. It on my bank statements. So I have proof that i payed them. When I spoke to the customer service rep, she said I haven’t paid ones ending in a certain number. So my question is if i was sent a bill for those month why wouldn’t all the charges be on it? Anyways they tried to hit me with 100$ fees for each “unpaid” toll for those months and I paid for the tolls I originally got a bill for. So they messed up if anything and now they are expecting me to pay 2000$. They are insane!!! I want in on this claim. Please let me know How to join this claim…
We signed up last night . We just received a bill for $759 .50. . 59.50 in tolls and $700 in fines . We never receive any previous bills and could not look up the fees prior . I will ever pay this . I’m sending in my 59.50 and a letter it hopefully with this lawsuit will straighten this out . This is insane .
Hello, how can I join the lawsuit? Thanks
I would like to join as well. I can’t believe that there’s nothing we can do to avoid or fight this. Something needs to be done. And it’s curious how so many people all started having these issues at the beginning of the year.
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
How do get in this lawsuit, I have payed my tolls right away but there fees are ridiculous And still being billed and send to collection for tolls I have payed. Since NYC got ride of cash tolls I have received violation and they won’t allowed me just to pay the toll they want me to pay the fee too which more then the toll. They are taking advantage of middle class people who have to work. It’s soo sad ?
I am being charge $1900.00 for penalties to TOLLS BY MAIL PROGRAM and I received a letter from
Mildred Chua the vice president and chief financial officer for the MTA That her office is going to give
a break for total bill only if I paid it the rest soon.
The Office of Governor Cuomo do not want to bother with it the collection company keep sending me
letters and MTA keeps telling they can not do anything about it either and do not believe their agency
made any mistakes even when they send the bills 6 months later with penalties.
I any of you hear from a class action lawsuits Please let me know
Apparently they’ve been sending violations to my company at a bad address for years. We found this out when my fleet manager went to the DMV on Friday, March 10th to register a new fleet vehicle and they turned him away. They told him our ability to register vehicles was suspended due to unpaid toll violations. We had absolutely no clue. A check in over at their website – ezpassnj.com – shows we’re paying (through the nose) with an account in good standing. No notices, no letters of suspension, no violation notices, no phone calls or emails. Now we can’t register cars, forcing us to sub work out to competitors that our drivers could be doing, which is killing our revenue. After phone calls to them, they tell us they’re “working on a resolution”, and they will get back to us in 24-48 hours. We were never given the opportunity to fight these things and they are telling us the balance owed is $667.00 in toll violations and roughly $12,000.00 in admin fees. I’m sending my Congressman a nice letter, too.
This is New York state fleecing the working public, when did we as voters authorize something like this,
I have been penalized 500 in violations with a 4 month time frame the billing is never up to date and accurate so you don’t know what your paying for and when your being penalized, I was just forced to sign up for an EZ Pass and had to spend another $120.00 to this scam I’m tired of this kind of money grab by the state of New York and it’s unscrupulous employees.
please let me in this…
Please let me in on this!!! I’m in collections because of this nonsense! Even when you pay they don’t credit you if the violation fee isn’t paid they give you no time to pay and then when you submit proof of payment they take forever to credit the account! It is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen