Chicago May Owe Refunds for Overcharged Parking Tickets
A judge has ruled that the city of Chicago overcharged residents for parking tickets, meaning Cook County residents may be owed refunds. The ruling challenges the legality of the city's parking enforcement practices, and officials are currently reviewing their options.
- The ruling by Cook County Judge William Sullivan found that the city of Chicago systematically violated an Illinois state law that caps fines and penalties for a single non-moving violation at $250. The city was found to have illegally added late fees that, in some cases, doubled the initial fine and pushed the total well beyond this legal limit. - This decision impacts over one million vehicle citations issued over approximately a decade, with the total financial repercussion for the city estimated to be around $163 million. This figure includes approximately $69.6 million in direct overcharges, $34 million in interest, and an additional $93.8 million in uncollected fines and fees that will be wiped out. - The class-action lawsuit was initiated in 2018 by the law firm now known as Zolna Swetland, with attorney Jacie Zolna being a key figure in the case against the city. This is not the first time this firm has successfully sued the city over ticketing practices; in 2017, they secured a $38.75 million settlement regarding late fees on red light and speed camera tickets. - A significant portion of the violations, estimated at about 80%, involved tickets for city stickers. For instance, in 2012, the city increased the fine for an out-of-date city sticker from $100 to $200 and added a $200 late payment penalty, bringing the total to $400, well over the state's $250 cap. - One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Kyle Garchar, was charged $1,600 for four city sticker violations, which resulted in him losing his job as a rideshare driver because the debt made him ineligible to drive for Uber or Lyft. - In response to the ruling, the city of Chicago has stated that it is reviewing its legal options, which may include appealing the decision. A specific process for how drivers can claim refunds has not yet been established. - This is not the only recent legal challenge to Chicago's parking enforcement. Another class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 alleges that from 2013 to 2018, the city wrongfully issued as many as 30,001 tickets for parking in the Central Business District to vehicles that were parked outside of the district's boundaries. Additionally, a 2017 class-action lawsuit targeted the ParkChicago app, alleging it led to users receiving false parking tickets even after paying for their sessions. - As part of broader reforms in 2019, prompted by investigations from ProPublica Illinois and WBEZ, the city did take some steps to change its ticketing practices. This included reducing the late penalty for city sticker violations from $200 to $50.
