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Almost everyone who has received a ticket from a speed camera in Montgomery County is now part of a class-action lawsuit intended to change the way the county operates its speed camera program.

Attorneys say ticketed drivers will receive notice of the suit and will be able to opt out if they choose.

But the decision Friday by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge David Boynton to turn a lawsuit filed in 2008 into a class-action suit is largely "meaningless," according to county spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Timothy Leahy — who also is one of about a dozen original plaintiffs — alleges that the county has been operating its speed camera program illegally since it began in 2007.

The suit also names Rockville, Gaithersburg and Chevy Chase Village, which operate their own speed camera programs. Takoma Park, which began its speed camera program after the lawsuit was filed, is not named in the suit.

Each government entity named in the suit operates its own speed camera program. The class-action suit is scheduled to be heard in Circuit Court June 30.

At issue is whether Montgomery County and other jurisdictions are in violation of the state law. Leahy and others allege that the jurisdictions are illegally paying a per-ticket rate to Affiliated Computer Services Inc., a Texas company involved in the speed camera program. The company receives $16.25 per ticket.

Maryland law states, "If a contractor operates a speed monitoring system on behalf of a local jurisdiction, the contractor's fee may not be contingent on the number of citations issued or paid."

Leahy and other attorneys say paying ACS Inc. per ticket violates state law by giving the company a financial incentive for citing drivers.

In March, Chevy Chase began paying the company a flat rate, Leahy said.

Lacefield says the county is operating its speed camera program legally. The Montgomery County Police Department reviews all county tickets before they are issued, and ACS has no involvement in deciding which tickets to issue, he said.

ACS had no comment on the lawsuit and directed all questions about its operations to its clients, spokesman Ken Ericson said in an e-mailed statement Monday.

Montgomery County has 119 sites designated for speed cameras. Of those locations, 60 have fixed cameras, and the other 59 are periodically monitored by six vans equipped with speed cameras. Tickets are $40, but additional fees are assessed for late payments.

In the past, speeding tickets have been issued to those driving 11 mph or more over the speed limit. However, a change in state law Oct. 1 has pushed the threshold to 12 mph.

County officials have said they expect the speed camera program will net $62.9 million in revenue since its beginning through fiscal 2010, which ends in June.

Leahy estimates that as much as $80 million might have been collected from speed cameras countywide, when combined with fines paid to Gaithersburg, Rockville and Chevy Chase.

Leahy, of Bowie, filed the original suit after he was ticketed in Montgomery County in 2008 and began to research the program.

"What folks are saying is I should be able to drive way over the speed limit and not have to have any consequence," Lacefield said. "You can believe that, but it's not the law and doesn't advance public safety.

"You don't need to go to court. All you need to do is slow down. It's less expensive than hiring an attorney."

Attorneys who initiated the lawsuit against the county say they are unsure how many people are represented by the class action, but that 928,624 citations had been issued in Montgomery County through September 2009. In addition, about 161,404 had been cited in Rockville, 42,038 in Gaithersburg and 212,029 in Chevy Chase, said Stephen H. Ring, a Gaithersburg attorney representing the plaintiff.

One person could have received more than one citation, so it is unclear how many people will be represented by the lawsuit, Leahy said in a phone interview Monday.

The class-action suit likely will not result in the return of money to ticketed drivers, Leahy said, but if successful it would force the county to stop ticketing speeders until the program is lawful. If the county is deemed to be operating its program illegally, Leahy said it will be easier to seek damages at that time.

Under Boynton's ruling Friday, claims for damages in the future could be limited to ticketed drivers who give notice that they intend to file suit within 180 days of receiving the ticket — a requirement for local governments under the Local Tort Claims Act.

"It's going to be a long process," Leahy said of the class-action suit. "They say that you can't fight city hall, but that's exactly what we're doing. This is an opportunity to try to make the county confront that they're operating illegally and hopefully they will stop."