If you have received a ticket from the city of Chicago, you could already be included in a new class-action lawsuit alleging the city violated Illinois law by charging you too much, NBC Chicago’s Charlie Wojciechowski reports.
If you have received a ticket from the city of Chicago, you could already be included in a new class-action lawsuit alleging the city violated Illinois law by charging you too much.
This week, a judge approved class-action status for a lawsuit originally filed last year by two men who claimed Chicago broke the law when it charged them more than $250 in fines and penalties for the same violation.
The citation could be assessed for something as simple as failing to affix a city sticker to a vehicle's windshield or letting a parking meter expire.
“What people who have been impacted will receive shortly is a notice in the mail advising them of the suit, advising them they are part of the suit and let them know what their rights and options are,” said Jacie Zola, one of the attorneys handling the lawsuit.
He said on parking sticker violations alone, Chicago could be on the hook for as much as $323 million in reimbursements and penalties.
The lawsuit stems from the way Chicago handles its parking tickets and other matters, as the city utilizes a special administrative court.
Attorney Ben Swetland said such courts, while legal, stack the deck in the City’s favor.
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“As soon as you show up in any other court of law, you always have the presumption of innocence. But when yo go to the city’s administrative courts, its up to you to prove that you didn’t do what you are being accused of,” he said.
To level the playing field, llinois state law limits the amount of fines and penalties for a single violation to $250. This new lawsuit accuses the city of doubling the fines and penalties for late payments so that some car owners wound up owing thousands of dollars.
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Rodney Shelton is one of those car owners. When he parked a 2000 Chevy Cavalier with a broken head gasket on a private lot in his West Garfield Park neighborhood, he figured he didn’t need to buy a city sticker or register the car.
He was wrong.
Because there was no fence around the lot, City collectors came back to the vehicle time after time with more tickets in hand.
”In a three-month time span, I got 77 tickets for either a violation of the city sticker or registration, which ballooned to over $20,000 (in penalties)," he said.
Eventually, Shelton said he had to file bankruptcy.
In response to the suit, a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Law said, “The City does not comment on ongoing litigation.”
The City Council last year amended the Chicago fine schedule to bring it into compliance with the state law.
“This case means that not only do drivers have to follow the law in the city of Chicago, Chicago has to follow the law too,” Swetland said.
