N.J. Tolls Not Debt Subject to Consumer Protection Law

Efforts to collect unpaid New Jersey tolls aren’t subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said Aug. 7.

By statute, New Jersey drivers must pay tolls to maintain the roads. The tolls are thus more akin to taxes, and outside the purview of the FDCPA, the opinion by Judge Cheryl Ann Krause said.

The issue was one of first impression in the federal circuit courts.

Thomas St. Pierre lives in New Jersey and subscribed to the E-Z Pass electronic toll paying system. When his E-Z Pass account became delinquent, it ...