law

The law suit against diversion of Turnpike (I-90) monies to the untolled Big Dig (I-93) in Boston by wellknown class action lawyer Jan Schlichtmann has been rebuffed again in the courts. An appeal against an earlier ruling for the Turnpike by county superior court judge Herman Smith was this week upheld by an appeals court which characterized Smith's ruling as "a thorough opinion."

Saying the plaintiffs look unlikely to prevail on the merits of their case a judge in Massachusetts has denied them an injunction against the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

The law suit joined by some 2300 Turnpike users and organized by class action lawyer Jan Schlichmann claims that use of Turnpike toll revenues to maintain and service the debt of the untolled Big Dig project makes such tolls into taxes, which are therefore, the suit claims, illegal and unconstitutional.

New Jersey Turnpike Authority lawyers are seeking costs against the regular anti-road protesters at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) for a "frivolous" lawsuit against widening the Garden State Parkway. TSTC is suing for an injunction to stop work on the widening project MP30 to MP80, a stretch of 80km (50 miles) on the Jersey shore.

The General Assembly in North Carolina is passing legislation designed to limit the clutter on motor vehicle license plates so the essentials can be read better by cameras and by cops. HB67 makes it an offense to cover the state name or year/month sticker on a license plate with a license plate frame.

Leading Big Dig building contractor Modern Continental pled guilty in US Court in Boston today to 40 out of 50 charges of fraud, making false statements, and other misconduct in connection with shoddy work that led to a fatal ceiling collapse and water leaks in tunnels.

Don Kovac the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's (PTC) former Labor Relations Manager is suing the Turnpike Commission itself, Mitchell Rubin former chairman, George Hatalowich chief operating officer, and Melvin Shelton a manager at the Turnpike, plus Mark Rowe of the Philadelphia Teamsters Union Local 77 alleging they conspired to have him wrongly dismi

A US appeals court has ruled against TransCore in a patent infringement challenge to Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp (ETC) work at the Illinois Tollway in a ruling handed down this week.

A federal jury in Manhattan yesterday awarded a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel worker, Gregory Fishman, $735k in damages for anti-semitic discrimination by his boss at the Queens Midtown Tunnel.  Fishman, 45, was a "bridge and tunnel maintainer" from 1991 to 2006.

As well as the $735k damages already specified by the jury, the judge in the case, US District Court Judge Lawrence McKenna  is considering Fishman's claim for compensation for lost wages.

We must have reproduced logos or 'marks' of companies and tollers ten thousand or more times in the past 13 years - first in black and white in the print Toll Roads Newsletter, then in color in this web-based news service. They enliven and illustrate the articles and are an inherent part of our style. They are a shorthand way of signaling instantly to the reader the identity of the main actors in the story in which they are placed.

The New York State attorney-general has said that free E-ZPass accounts for members and past members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board are illegal and should immediately be revoked. But the MTA arguing "we've done it for years" will take the matter to court, seeking a judgment on the legality of the perk.

TransCore plan to lodge an appeal against the May 22 US District Court's dismissal of their complaint against ETC on patent infringement in Illinois. An official said: "I don't think you'll find this is the end of the story."

US District Court in Dallas has dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by TransCore against ETC alleging infringement of open road tolling patents in the E-ZPass area. TransCore alleged in their suit that ETC improperly used methodologies they owned through patents for open road tolling with the IAG's Mark IV transponders and readers.

The Virginia Supreme Court has blocked regional transportation funding powers legislated last year saying the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) cannot be granted revenue raising powers reserved by the state constitution to the General Assembly or to directly elected bodies. This immediately invalidates another funding source previously relied on for the Dulles metrorail project planned in the median of the Dulles Toll Road.

Three employees in a Cintra team doing a photographic and notetaking survey of facilities along the Pennsylvania Turnpike were taken into custody for a couple of hours by state police Tuesday afternoon and questioned. They had their cameras, camera cards, laptops and CDs examined. Police and the Turnpike had received reports from motorists of "suspicious activity" and treated it as a case of possible terrorist surveillance.

Nineteen Pennsylvania Turnpike workers attempting to leave the Teamsters union won a US District Court injunction today against the Turnpike Commission in which the Commission is ordered to cease collecting union dues on behalf of the Teamsters.