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Toll Violations In Two Counties Kicked Back To E-Pass, SunPass

POSTED: 6:01 pm EDT April 22, 2008
UPDATED: 6:07 pm EDT April 22, 2008

9 Investigates and get results. All toll violations issued to Seminole and Brevard County drivers will be kicked back to E-Pass and SunPass until they can fully prove the driver was at fault. The appeals court ruling is a major development in a growing problem that Channel 9 has been reporting on for months.


READ: Circuit Court Ruling Related To E-Pass, SunPass (PDF)

Drivers have been coming forward to Channel 9 to talk about the difficulties they've faced while trying to fix problems with both toll agencies. Some of the reports have even led to policy changes.

The judge had some pretty harsh words for the toll agencies and implied the agency misused its power in fining its own customers. It's a big victory for drivers in Brevard and Seminole who are facing expensive fines and suspended driver's licenses.

Channel 9 has been investigating problems with SunPass and E-Pass for weeks. Customers have been arrested and fined hundreds, some thousands, of dollars for toll citations they never knew they had.

Osceola County Firefighter Christopher Baird nearly lost his job over it. He fought the fines and won. Late Tuesday, an appeals court that serves only Seminole and Brevard counties ruled the toll agency cannot issue citations to customers who have an account with E-Pass or SunPass.

Judge Ralph Eriksson wrote, "The citizens of this circuit and the state should never be subjected to the bureaucratic morass this appellant was subjected to. E-Pass failed to serve him as a citizen of this state but instead used an enforcement power that should be reserved for those who actually intentionally violate the law."

The judge went on to say fines and points on driver's licenses were designed to punish people who intentionally run the tolls, not customers who are having trouble with transponders.

The judge ordered the courts of Seminole and Brevard counties to dismiss any current citations against SunPass or E-Pass account holders.

Wednesday, the clerks in Brevard and Seminole counties will be very busy. They have to pull all outstanding citations and send them back to SunPass. Lately, the Seminole County clerk's been getting more than 1,000 SunPass citations a month.


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