Tollpayers Back in Court to Stop Diversion to Big Dig
Lawyers for nearly 2,000 members of the Massachusetts Turnpike Toll Equity Trust will today ask a Middlesex Superior Court judge to stop the Turnpike Authority from continuing to divert toll revenues to pay for Big Dig debt.
At a hearing scheduled for today at 2 p.m. in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, attorney Jan Schlichtmann will seek the declaratory judgment and restraining order against the Turnpike to ensure funds aren’t continuing to flow to the Big Dig from tollpayers west of and along the shore north of Boston.
“The Legislature and Governor made clear in the transportation reform bill that toll equity is the law of the land and money paid by tollpayers must only go to those tolled roads – now it’s time to hold the Turnpike to that promise,” said Schlichtmann, lead attorney in the Turnpike suit.
The toll equity provision in the transportation reform bill mirrors one being advocated by the Trust, led by former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, former Romney administration Chief Legal Counsel Daniel Winslow, Schlictmann and the lead plaintiffs in the case. The efforts continue the class action lawsuit brought in May by Schlictmann on behalf of four tollpayers, Sandra Murphy, Joel Feingold, Robert Ackley and Doug Barth. The Trust has already grown to nearly 2,000 beneficiaries seeking repayment of some of the estimated $450 million diverted from toll revenues to pay for non-tolled portions of the Big Dig the last three years alone.
In court filings today, the lawyers plan to argue that the Turnpike Authority does not deny the diversion and that allowing it to continue would mean continued harm to tollpayers. According to filings from the Trust lawyers, the $100 million dedicated to the Turnpike in the transportation reform law, in addition to the existing $25 million-per-year payment, is more than sufficient to cover the existing Big Dig debt.
Despite repeated request to the Turnpike Authority from tollpayers’ representatives and inquires by the press, the MTA has refused to indicate that it will cease its practice.