Attorney Black Horwitz has filed a class action lawsuit against the city of Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley and several police officers over the city’s ban of talking or texting over a cell phone while driving. Thousands of drivers have been ticketed since the law went into effect in 2005. Drivers are typically fined $75 if caught talking on their cell phones and up to $200 if they are involved in an accident.
Horwitz’s firm specializes in police misconduct and has sued Chicago over 100 times. The law which bans driving and talking on a phone includes a clause that requires the city to put up signs telling drivers not to talk on the phone and drive at the same time. The city hasn’t posted these signs across the city and therefore the fines and arrests are illegal, Horwitz said.
The city of Chicago has collected nearly $2 million in fines from cell
phone ordinance violators. Horwitz is asking the city to stop all enforcement of the law and that people who have paid the fine be reimbursed.