LAWYER FIGHTS TRAFFIC CAM SETTLEMENT
An attorney behind a broader legal attack on Chicago’s scandal- scarred red- light camera program is asking a judge to alter or reject a $ 38.75 million settlement that offered 50 percent refunds to 1.2 million motorists denied due process after being hit with red light and speed camera tickets.
In an objection filed this week in Circuit Court, attorney Patrick Keating argued that the settlement agreement approved by the City Council last summer shortchanges motorists to pay exorbitant attorneys’ fees and gives recipients too short a time to cash refund checks.
An estimated 1.2 million motorists were denied due process when the city failed to send them a second notice of violation required until May 2015 and imposed $ 100 late fees four days too soon.
“Several telling terms . . . reek of a collusive settlement where the city has bought its peace for very short money — $ 26.75 million in cash against a likely liability 10to- 30 times that of the maximum payout to the class,” the objection states.
“The deal is evidently structured so that the crowed- about refund of half monies paid will only apply if a small fraction of classmembers, faced with an opaque notice and a disinterested class- action administrator, submit their claim forms in the short time allowed — upon a single notice and using a non- postage paid return envelope— with checks that go void in 60 days.”
Keating has a broader case pending before the Illinois Appellate Court after suffering several preliminary defeats.
It seeks to declare redlight tickets issued by the city since the 2003 inception of the scandal- scarred program declared null and void on several grounds. Now, Keating is urging the judge to “narrowly tailor” claims in the $ 38.75 million settlement to avoid “prejudice” to those involved in his broader claims.
Law Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said the department recommended City Council approval of the settlement “to protect taxpayers from significant financial exposure.”
McCaffrey noted that motorists who filed claims will receive a “substantial refund” and that the judge overseeing the case “held two separate hearings” before granting preliminary approval.
Jacie Zolna, the attorney who secured the $ 38.75 million settlement, accused Keating of filing a “frivolous objection,” in part, because he “lost his case and he’s upset about it.”
“I don’t know what his deal is in trying to interfere with this lawsuit, but none of his arguments have any merit.”