Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) and Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson Trying to charge me outrageous fees for a mistake they made! Houston Texas

I can't believe these people.  We registered a new vehicle and got our EZ Tag in the mail.  We put it on the car and activated it.  Then some sort of error was made because the tag was never activated.  Then we incurred toll violations for an error made by HCTRA!  From there we were allegedly sent five notices, one for each individual violation.  I returned home from the hoidays to find two notices from the "law firm" of Linebarger, let's just call them what they are, a collection agency, and I was shocked.  I had no idea what was even occuring.  In addition, I also had a violation for when we had the temporary tags on the car.  I promptly called HCTRA and settled those.

I want to pay my tolls.  I do not dodge them.  I have tried through both HCTRA and Linebarger to pay the tolls, but they want an additional amount in outrageous fees.  I believe this violates the excessive fines clause of article 1 section 13 of the Texas Constitution and the excessive fines clause of the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Yes, I have been doing my research.

I am in process of trying to "talk" to these people, but they don't want to talk to me.  They are making no effort to settle the debt, which I also believe is another violation of a law.  Then I've heard how the court is in the back pocket of HCTRA.  So I'm not sure what legal recourse I can take.  Even if I take my case to court, it sounds like it is not a fair trial.  Basically if I own the car at the time of the violations, it is my fault.  I'll repeat again, this is all due to an error by the HCTRA and they have the nerve to say it is my fault.  Also, they have threatened me in saying who ever drives that car on the toll roads will be pulled over and ticketed for trespassing.  Excuse me!

We have two cars in good standing with HCTRA.  We drive the toll roads on a regular basis and I have been okay with them since 2005.  All of a sudden there have been major issues and receiving violations for being a little slow to update credit card information after cancelled cards due to fraud.  We've been able to take care of everything paying no fees and having a small administrative fee.  Now this and it isn't even our fault, it is HCTRA's fault!

The practices are unfair to the consumer.  There is no good faith effort to collect the debt.  Only one notice is sent, so if you move or don't receive the notice due to an error on the part of USPS, well you are presented with a notice from Linebarger, a collection agency, out of the blue.  

These fees are not reasonable.  They do not represent the harm suffered by HCTRA in the consumer not paying the toll at the time of service.  I am not an attorney, I wish I was so I could go personally fight this thing; however, I do work in litigation and I know my rights.  I also know a lot about damages and these fees are grossly excessive.

I am ready to join in and file a class action lawsuit against these people.  What they are doing is unlawful and they should be stopped.  I have a pending message with the "supervisor" at Linebarger.  She didn't call me back, so on Monday, I'll be making phone calls to her every half hour until someone talks to me.

Like I said I want to pay my tolls, they just won't let me.  I am reasonable, I'll pay a fee, but I'm not going to pay over 1500% in fees.  Do the math people, it is that much of an increase.