In a case similar to one recently filed in Massachusetts, a Connecticut woman has sued the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority, accusing it of illegally favoring Rhode Islanders in the tolls it charges to cross the Pell Bridge.

David A. Darlington, the authority’s chairman, said that he believes that the authority is on sound legal ground and that the authority has no intention of changing the toll policy.

The Rhode Island suit is similar to one filed March 20 against the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Port Authority challenging their toll policies favoring residents using the Tobin Bridge and the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels.

Like the case in Massachusetts, the Rhode Island suit says the authority is violating the U.S. Constitution’s provisions on interstate commerce and equal protection.

The Rhode Island authority charges out-of-state drivers more than twice as much as state residents to cross the Pell Bridge. Using E-ZPass transponders, Rhode Island residents pay 83 cents per trip and out-of-state drivers pay $1.75. Out-of-state drivers can buy Rhode Island transponders, the devices that identify vehicles passing through the toll plaza so money can be deducted from the owner’s account. But unless they prove their Rhode Island residency, with a tax bill, a copy of a lease or some similar document, drivers must still pay the higher toll.

The policy went into effect when the E-ZPass electronic toll collection system was put into use in January.

The Rhode Island suit was filed on behalf of Isabel S. Cohen, who is described as living in Fairfield County, which is the southwestern corner of Connecticut. The lawyers representing Cohen against the Rhode Island authority include some of the same lawyers who sued the two Massachusetts agencies on behalf of a Rhode Island woman, Carol L. Surprenant, less than two weeks ago. They are from New York City and Los Angeles. Jules Brody, a member of a New York City firm and one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in both cases, would not discuss the Cohen case yesterday.

As with the Massachusetts case, the Rhode Island suit seeks class-action status, which would make everybody who has paid the disputed tolls plaintiffs and possible beneficiaries of a decision against the authority.

The Rhode Island case asks that the extra money collected from non-residents be put into trust while the case is going on, and that the extra money collected in the past be refunded. It doesn’t estimate how much money is involved, saying the amount would be discovered during the litigation. Slightly more than 10 million vehicles crossed the Pell Bridge in the year ending last June 30, generating $12 million in tolls.

Darlington said he could not discuss the case in detail. However, he had said that the authority is relying on a 2007 Massachusetts state court decision that raised issues similar to the two current ones, which are in federal courts.

In the 2007 decision, Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel dismissed a case brought against the Massachusetts agencies on similar grounds. The plaintiffs in that case objected to the same tolls favoring residents there that are under attack now in both states.

Judge Gestel cited cases from Massachusetts and federal courts in throwing out many of the same arguments raised in the current federal cases. For instance, a major issue in all three cases is whether the tolls improperly interfere with interstate commerce. The Massachusetts and Rhode Island situations are similar in that the tolls are collected far from the state line and there are other ways to get to important destinations, Logan Airport and Newport, respectively. Judge Gestel said Massachusetts tolls didn’t interfere significantly.

In another area, equal protection, Judge Gestel ruled that a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows tolls favoring residents given a compelling government interest in protecting them.

The situations are different in that that the Massachusetts tolls were intended to favor immediate neighbors of the bridge and tunnels, while the Pell Bridge tolls favor all Rhode Islanders.

blandis@projo.com