A lawsuit has been filed against the state for overcharging some Ohioans who have purchased driver’s licenses or state identification cards recently.
Former Attorney General Marc Dann has filed suit against the state, saying deputy registrars have been charging people a $1.50 lamination fee even though registrars no longer produce or laminate driver’s licenses or state ID cards on site.
“You know, it’s really an outrage that a government entity like the Bureau of Motor Vehicles would play such a big role of risking $1.50 at a time from probably hundreds of thousands of people’s pockets,” Dann says. “It really adds up. We could be talking about millions of dollars here.”
The defunct fee was discovered by the Columbus Dispatch earlier this month.
Dann says he’s not sure exactly how much money has been gained this way since last July when changes were made to allow the overcharges, but it’s in the millions. The Dispatch estimated the state charged more than $3 million to over 2 million motorists.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety, in a written statement, said it had not received the lawsuit. It goes on to say Ohio drivers have continued to receive laminated driver's licenses and the only change that has been made in the process since July 2018 is the lamination services have been provided by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
