Six-year California toll lawsuit worth nine figures comes to an end

Just two days shy of its sixth anniversary in the courtroom, a Southern California toll lawsuit over privacy violations has come to a $217 million end.

On Monday, Feb. 14, federal district court Judge Otis Wright II of the Santa Ana, Calif., division officially closed a Southern California toll lawsuit against several toll operators in the region. Defendants in the case have settled for a combined $217 million.

Judge Wright approved the attorney fees on Feb. 11, the final hurdle to the finish line. Class attorneys will pocket more than $20 million.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies, 3M and Orange County Transportation Authority WEre the named defendants in the case.

In November 2020, the Transportation Corridor Agencies and 3M inked a deal worth nearly $176 million to end their respective portions of the Southern California toll lawsuit.

The settlement includes nearly $41 million in cash awards and $135 million in penalty forgiveness.

Last April, the Orange County Transportation Authority reached a settlement valued at $41 million regarding allegations of illegally sharing personally identifiable information of motorists on the 91 Express Lanes. Of that money, $40 million will be for forgiven penalties. The remaining $1 million will be for cash awards for certain plaintiffs.

The Orange County settlement absolves the Southern California toll agency of wrongdoing. According to the class action judgment, the court finds that the Orange County Transportation Authority did not violate any state laws. Furthermore, the Orange County toll operator can keep its maximum toll violation penalty at $100. According to Judge Wright, the $100 maximum does not violate the Eighth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Allegations of privacy law violations and manipulation

Moved to a federal court on Feb. 16, 2016, the class action lawsuit accuses the toll operators of improperly providing personally identifiable information of toll road users to dozens of third parties. California state law prohibits such distribution of personal information. Class members also allege that toll agencies levied excessive fines and violated due process.

At the heart of the case is the Southern California toll agencies’ coordination with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Plaintiffs claim the toll operators gave information to the DMV, allowing the agency to deny vehicle registration renewals for drivers with an outstanding toll bill.

Additionally, information was given to the California Franchise Tax Board. The board would take tax refunds and lottery winnings from drivers with outstanding Southern California toll bills.

California Highways 73, 91, 133, 241 and 261 have collected tolls at toll booths since 1995. Beginning in May 2014, those toll booths were converted to all-electronic cashless tolls. According to the lawsuit, the switch to cashless tolls unfairly penalized unsuspecting drivers who did not have FasTrak passes or ExpressAccounts.

Plaintiffs argued that when toll roads used manned and unmanned toll booths, motorists were adequately warned with conspicuous signs and with the toll booths themselves. Removing the signs and booths and then replacing them with cameras and digital systems eliminated any safeguards to avoid inadvertent tolls and subsequent violations, plaintiffs claim.

Furthermore, the lawsuit claimed that cashless tolls assume everyone has a computer and understands “vague and confusing roadside signage.” This is in reference to signs with an internet URL that motorist can access to pay tolls. The suit argued that this assumed that motorists would notice the sign, interpret the sign as a directive to take action, and then remember to write down the URL while driving approximately 55 mph.

“If a driver does not have a computer, does not have an account set up with the toll roads, or does not understand that they must go online to pay the toll within a set period of time, or how to do so, or does not have the precise time and address of their entry on and exit from the toll roads, a notice of violation would issue in 48 hours threatening a lien on the vehicle owner’s automobile registration, generally if not paid within 30 days,” the lawsuit says. LL