If you’ve driven on one of Orange County’s tolled roads in the past six years, you could be one of millions of people entitled to a small cash payment or forgiveness of penalty fees to be doled out in a more than $200 million settlement of a class action lawsuit.
Multiple suits dating back to at least 2015 have been critical of how the Transportation Corridor Agencies (which operate the 73, 133, 241 and 261 toll roads) and the Orange County Transportation Authority (which operates the 91 Freeway Express Lanes) shared drivers’ personal information with third parties, such as debt collectors, and how they charged tolls and violation fees to drivers who don’t have accounts with them, among other complaints.
The TCA and OCTA are on the brink of settling a class action lawsuit and are sending notices to some of the more than 15 million people who may have used the toll roads or lanes since mid-2015 and could benefit from the settlement.
According to documents from the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court, the agencies don’t admit any wrongdoing in the proposed settlements, but they’ve changed or promised to change some of their practices, including limiting how much personal information about drivers they share with other agencies or contractors, and they’ve pledged to forgive some outstanding penalties and provide restitution to some people who already paid.
Information about who is eligible and what’s available is posted at ; Nov. 8 is the deadline to file a claim.
Multiple complaints
The lawsuit that’s due to be settled is a consolidation of several legal complaints.
The proposed settlement of the most recent suit largely revolves around whether TCA, OCTA and two outside contractors that worked for them violated state law in sharing drivers’ personal information with third parties, but the lawsuit also includes allegations the toll road operators don’t do enough to notify drivers about what they may owe and that penalties are excessive.
Plaintiff James Watkins of Costa Mesa said in a phone interview that his toll trouble began in 2015, when TCA spotted his car on the 73 (he thinks his son might have been driving). He knew nothing about it until he went to the DMV to renew his registration and found TCA had put a lien on it to collect penalties for toll evasion.
Watkins was charged “$1,500 to renew a $164 registration fee,” he said. “I didn’t have that kind of money.”
He decided to sue and was later asked to join the class action; Watkins said he’s declining to accept the settlement and intends to file another suit because he doesn’t think the amount he was offered is fair.
Several attorneys representing the other seven plaintiffs could not be reached for comment.
Spokesmen for TCA and OCTA maintain the agencies have followed the law in charging and collecting tolls and penalties.
As to some drivers’ claims in the suit that it was hard to tell they were entering a toll road and would be charged, TCA spokesman Eugene Fields said in an email, “Since the roads were constructed, signage has always been clearly visible and in excess of state standards. There are more than 650 signs informing drivers that they are on a tolled road; that cash is not accepted (these signs were installed in 2014); that tolls can be paid electronically via a pre-established account or online; and that a violation will be issued if tolls are not paid.”
OCTA spokesman Eric Carpenter said in an email, “In light of the recent lawsuit, OCTA did review its toll violation and enforcement ordinance to ensure we are consistent with toll-violation policies across the state. And in December 2020, the OCTA board made adjustments to that policy capping the maximum penalty for any violation at $100. Prior to that adjustment, penalties could increase to a maximum of $163 per violation (or 20 times the highest toll amount of $8.15).”
What’s next
TCA and OCTA are notifying people who are eligible for a share of the settlement via email, letters and postcards, and they’ve placed ads in area newspapers and on social media, the spokesmen said.
It’s unclear whether they expect to reach everyone. Carpenter said an estimated 350,000 people could have valid claims with OCTA, and court filings say as many as 14 million people may be entitled to something from TCA. Its toll roads can log tens of millions of trips a year – in fiscal 2019-20 about 83.7 million driver transactions were logged.
Under the proposed settlement, TCA agreed to limit the sharing of driver information and explain more in their privacy policy about how that data may be shared, and to reset customers’ status to opt them out of advertising.
In addition, TCA has updated its signage to increase driver awareness and increased the grace period to pay tolls from five to seven days.
OCTA also agreed to limit which driver information it shares with debt collectors.
The settlement includes funds – $1 million from OCTA and $29 million from TCA – for cash awards, but each person may not get much: the information website on the OCTA settlement says those whose toll violations were sent to a debt collector can request up to $15.
The bulk of the settlement money – $40 million from OCTA and $135 million from TCA – will go toward forgiving penalties for toll violations. Both agencies will be crediting many of the payments automatically, but people can opt out of the settlement if they choose (accepting the settlement means losing the right to sue regarding these claims).
A recent Orange County Grand Jury report criticized TCA for carrying a large amount of debt that has extended the timeline for when the roads would become free to use, but Fields said the settlement would not affect the agencies’ ability to repay it because they’ve already had “a substantial portion” of settlement expenses reimbursed through insurance, and “TCA is pursuing efforts to recover the full amount of the settlement from its insurers.”
Anyone who didn’t get a notice but thinks they might be eligible for the settlement may call 888-490-0922. A hearing on whether the proposed settlement will become final is scheduled Jan. 4.
