Editor's note: This article has been revised from a previous version to clarify the accusations against former State Sen. Martin Sandoval and his relationship with a red light camera company, as recorded in a federal plea deal.
A federal judge has curbed a class action racketeering lawsuit seeking refunds of more than $100 million in fines generated from a network of red light cameras in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, because, the judge said, even if the cameras were installed as a result of a conspiracy built on bribes and grift, the ticketed motorists still committed the traffic offenses for which they were fined.
On Aug. 6, U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. ruled in favor of red light camera vendor Safespeed and an assortment of public officials and business people associated with the scandal that ultimately led to the fall and conviction of once powerful former State Sen. Martin Sandoval.
Zachary Fardon
| King & Spalding
The ruling dismissed the lawsuit brought by named plaintiff Lawrence Gress, alleging he and hundreds of thousands of others were bilked out of $100 traffic fines as a result of a conspiracy involving an assortment of state and local government officials, in violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The judge, however, said Gress had no standing under the law to bring his legal action because neither he nor any other people potentially included in the class action could claim they didn’t deserve to receive the traffic tickets.
“The Court agrees with Defendants that the direct cause of Plaintiff and the proposed class members’ injuries was not Defendants’ alleged RICO violations, but rather their failure to follow the Illinois Vehicle Code - in Plaintiff’s case, by making a rolling right-hand turn while his traffic signal was red,” Judge Dow wrote in the decision filed Aug. 6.
“While Plaintiff (Gress) believes such turns are harmless, he never suggests … that he did not make a rolling right-hand turn or that rolling right-hand turns are allowed under the Illinois Vehicle Code.
“… Plaintiff and the other members of the proposed class could have avoided any injury (from the red light cameras) by simply complying with the traffic laws,” Dow wrote.
In the complaint, Gress said he received a $100 citation for allegedly running a red light when turning right onto 22nd Street from Illinois Route 83 in Oakbrook Terrace in December 2018.
Gress, however, said the red light camera that captured his alleged traffic violation, as well as a number of other cameras scattered throughout Chicago’s southwest suburbs, should have never been installed -and would never have been installed, but for a conspiracy allegedly instigated by Safespeed and carried out by Sandoval and a network of public officials willing to accept bribes or other compensation to promote the installation of the cameras.
The complaint named a series of defendants, including Safespeed; Sandoval; the city of Oakbrook Terrace and its then-mayor Tony Ragucci; Jeff Tobolski, who had served as village president of the village of McCook and as a Cook County commissioner; Tobolski’s chief of staff, Patrick Doherty; former Worth Township Supervisor John O’Sullivan; former Chicago Deputy Aviation Commissioner Bill Helm; former village of Justice Police Chief Robert Gedville; Summit Mayor Sergio Rodriguez; Alsip Mayor John Ryan; and others.
The complaint also named as a defendants Safespeed executives Nikki Zollar and Omar Maani, among others associated with Safespeed.
The complaint asserted all of the defendants allegedly played a role in furthering Safespeed’s alleged scheme, which the company allegedly achieved through bribes and grift.
The complaint asserted Safespeed bribed Sandoval to champion red light cameras in Springfield, while Safespeed illicitly recruited local officials to their cause.
According to the complaint, those local officials either received bribes outright, or were hired as Safespeed “consultants” or “sales representatives.” Such positions would then enable them to receive at least 1% of all the fines collected from those cameras, the lawsuit said.
According to court documents, those Safespeed red light cameras generated more than $70 million in fines from 2014 to 2016.
The complaint was built on details laid out in the federal case against Sandoval.
Sandoval was indicted in early 2020, and pleaded guilty to accepting $250,000 in bribes. Government plea documents say Sandoval accepted the bribes to advance the interests of the red-light camera industry in Springfield, and to protect red-light cameras from legislation that could otherwise result in their removal. The plea documents indicate Sandoval particularly worked to advance the interests of a company identified as "Company A." The plea deal doesn't identify "Company A." In court, however, Sandoval, apparently inadvertently, conflated "Company A" with Safespeed.
Sandoval died in December 2020 from COVID-19 at age 56. He had not yet been sentenced. According to to published reports, Sandoval was cooperating with federal investigators.
Tobolski pleaded guilty to other federal conspiracy charges.
His chief of staff, Doherty, was also indicted, including on charges related to the red light camera bribery scandal.
O’Sullivan pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the red light camera scandal in June 2021.
Ragucci resigned in 2020, after federal agents raided his home.
Despite the litany of charges and evidence concerning the red light cameras, the defendants argued the class action against them must be dismissed because the motorists who paid the fines still have no legal ground from which to demand refunds, because they can’t prove they didn’t make illegal turns or otherwise run a red light.
And Judge Dow agreed.
He said Gress’ complaint rests on the presumption that Oakbrook Terrace police would have never otherwise issued him a traffic citation for allegedly rolling through a right turn on red. The judge noted police officers were required to review the footage from the camera, before tickets could be issued.
“… Even though Plaintiff believes that he would never have been ticketed for making a rolling right-hand turn but for SafeSpeed’s ‘corruptly installed’ RLC (red light camera), there is no suggestion in the pleadings that Plaintiff had not committed the traffic violation for which he was ticketed,” Dow wrote.
The judge further said Gress’ case against Sandoval is “even more tenuous,” as it rests on the belief that the red light cameras would not have been in place, if Sandoval had not acted on behalf of Safespeed to block legislation against red light cameras in Springfield.
“Plaintiff’s theory about how Defendants’ RICO violations injured him and other members of the proposed class goes far ‘beyond the first step’ of causation, in a manner not contemplated by RICO jurisprudence,” Dow wrote.
Safespeed and Zollar have been represented by attorney Zachary Fardon, of King & Spalding, of Chicago. Fardon had served as U.S. Attorney in Chicago from 2013-2017, after he was appointed by President Barack Obama.
The village of Oakbrook Terrace is defended by Storino, Ramello & Durkin, of Rosemont.
Ragucci has been defended by Westmont lawyer Steven C. Rueckert.
Defendants associated with the village of Summit have been represented by attorneys with the Del Galdo Law Group, of Berwyn.
O’Sullivan has been represented by attorney Daniel J. Collins, of the firm of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, of Chicago.