SEATTLE -- A group of attorneys has filed a class action lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Transportation, claiming the billing process for bridge tolls violates due process.
For all the times a week she's driven across the 520 bridge, Amy Funchess never guessed how much she would end up owing WSDOT.
Before she got her Good To Go pass, Funchess says she traveled across the bridge many times but only received two tolling bills in the mail.
When she called Good To Go a couple months ago to ask about her balance, she was stunned with what she learned.
"Lo and behold, they told me about all these civil penalties I had. And I said 'How much would those be?' And they said 'Oh, you're up around $900.' And I about fell over in my chair," Funchess said.
Funchess, an attorney, consulted a friend, attorney Catherine Clark of Seattle, who had heard the same story from other lawyers.
"I honestly think it's people who aren't thinking the process through," Clark said.
So Clark and her colleagues, attorney Mary Anderson of Bellevue, and attorney Laurie Shiratori of Seattle, filed a class action lawsuit this week claiming WSDOT and Electronic Transaction Consultants are violating a driver's right to due process, by failing to notify her of her bills and the penalties owed for not paying them.
"It's sporadic. Some things get sent, some do not," said Clark. "The civil penalty do not refer to the toll bill that was issued. The toll bill doesn't include dates on which they are allegedly sent. It's very confusing for people and it should be that hard."
KING 5 has aired a series of stories exposing the confusion and the billing problems with Good To Go.
Clark accuses WSDOT of using a specific Washington Administrative Code as a crutch, which says "a toll bill MAY be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle."
But there is no requirement.
"The position that they take is a WAC that says we may send you a bill," said Clark. "Which suggests it's a discretionary idea. We don't think it's discretionary. We think it's a constitutional right that I'm entitled to notice or anyone is entitled to notice."
KING 5 reached out to WSDOT to comment on the lawsuit. A spokesperson said WSDOT had not yet been served.
The whole process makes Funchess reluctant to take the 520 bridge at all.
"Untrusting, to be quite honest, a little bit violated," she said. "They stole from me."
Funchess said Good To Go offered no appeals process, no payment plan, and that if she didn't pay up, Department of Licensing would not renew her tabs.
