Colorado lawyer defeats toll ticket and opens door to more cases
Mar 31, 2025, 6:13 PM | Updated: Apr 1, 2025, 11:49 am
Have you received a $75 toll ticket from the Colorado Transportation Investment Office? I still have no idea how they were able to charge that amount in the first place. However, that’s the steep charge and after 20 days, that charge will double to $150.
In just nine months, CTIO has issued $40 million in citations over just nine months. You can appeal that ticket, but less that a quarter of those tickets are dismissed. It’s very frustrating. I received a ticket for entering the lane after it started. I was about one car length into the start of the toll lanes. I appealed and pointed out that I just entered the highway and merged over, but didn’t make it to the start. They didn’t care. It was an automated stamp. So, I paid it and I have never taken the toll since.
John Bowlin received a citation for crossing the solid line to enter an express lane on C470, but a Douglas County judge recently dismissed the ticket and questioned whether state authorities have the power to enforce such violations through their current methods.
Bowlin is a trial lawyer and decided to challenge the ticket after reviewing the statute that the CTIO was citing. (Same wording as the one most of us receive.)
Tens of thousands of people have tried to appeal their cases. Bowlin was ready to take it all the way. He go in front of a judge and plead his case for four hours.
“It was called a safety violation,” he said. “But you look up the statute that the tolling authority was citing, and it says that they can issue a civil penalty for toll evasion, and I thought to myself, well, I wasn’t trying to avoid paying the toll.”
While in the hearing, the judge stated the ruling doesn’t technically set a legal precedent, Bowlin believes “other judges would come to the same conclusion” and is now considering a class action lawsuit.
CTIO, a division of the Colorado Department of Transportation, stated they “cannot comment on this ruling, as this legal issue is ongoing.”
If you received a ticket and would like to join a class action lawsuit…please contact Bowlin at his office.
Read more about the appeals and Bowlin here.
