Lawsuit seeks refunds for drivers ticketed for cellphone use

CHICAGO (AP) - The city of Chicago is being sued over the way it administers tickets received by drivers caught using their cellphones while behind the wheel.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court alleges Chicago took the cases to municipal administrative court for years in a bid to keep all resulting fines rather than sharing the money with the county and the state of Illinois.

The lawsuit filed by the law firm Myron M. Cherry & Associates says drivers have fewer opportunities to prove their innocence in administrative court than in state court. It seeks refunds for people who paid tickets beginning in 2010. That is when a state law took effect requiring such distracted driving citations to go to state traffic court.

City Law Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey says the city hadn't fully reviewed it, but plans to contest the lawsuit.