Municipalities

Greenville, NC Utilities Commission Capacity Fee Settlement

The Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC) is settling a class action alleging that the capacity fees it was charging violated North Carolina law. The complaint alleged GUC was charging the fees as a condition of receiving water or sewer service.  Read more

Netflix and Hulu Franchise Fees to New Jersey Municipalities Class Action

Netflix, Inc. and Hulu, LLC offer online streaming services. To do this, they make use of broadband wireline facilities, which the complaint for this class action claims are “located at least in part in public rights-of-way” in the state of New Jersey. The complaint alleges that the companies should thus be paying franchise and fee  Read more

Detroit Per-Acre Drainage Charges Settlement

The city of Detroit, Michigan has agreed to set aside nearly $30 million to settle a class action alleging that its Water and Sewerage Department imposed disproportionate drainage charges on a particular subset of the city’s property owners. The complaint in the case claimed that the charges were made to raise revenue and did not  Read more

City of Chicago Red Light Camera Ticket Settlement

This settlement resolves two different class actions against the City of Chicago about cameras used to determine speeding and red light tickets. The McKenzie-Lopez suit alleged that the city did not give drivers the notice they were due under the Municipal code and prematurely assessed late penalties. This led the city to pass the Automated  Read more