A class action suit filed Wednesday against the City of Shreveport alleges the city has overcharged a “significant number” of water and sewer customers for at least a decade.Among requests in the suit is that the First Judicial District court prohibit the city from shutting off the water of those who refuse, or are unable, to pay their water bills until it can prove the billing problems have been corrected.

The 31-page lawsuit contains 149 pages of attached exhibits, including water bills from several Shreveport residents.

The lawsuit alleges the city has failed to properly calculate the monthly bills for a “significant number” of the city’s estimated 65,000 water customers and instead has charged amounts higher than those outlined in the ordinance governing water and sewerage services.

A recently filed lawsuit alleges the City of Shreveport has overcharged a “significant amount” of water and sewerage customers for at least a decade. (Photo: Lex Talamo)

As of January 1, those overcharges have ranged from $3.94 to $31.48 per month for in-city residential sewerage customers and from $7.87 to $62.94 per month for out-of-city sewerage customers, according to the lawsuit. At those monthly amounts, the alleged over-payments would total up to $378 annually for in-city residential customers and up to $755 annually for out-of-city customers.

The amount that residents are overcharged varies depending on which of the city’s 19 billing cycles they fall under, according to the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are T. Scott Pernici, Michael Jones and Mark DeFatta, all of Shreveport.

Pernici has been engaged in a public spat with city government over his finding – acknowledged by the city – that some residential water customers were underbilled for nearly 18 months in 2015 and 2016 after the city introduced new, tiered water rates charging heavy water users higher rates. Last week’s lawsuit represents another front in his conflict with city government over water billing.

The overcharging originated in several routine procedures of the city, including using information from incorrect months to determine the winter consumption calculation or quantity charge for residential customers, using an excessive number of days when calculating a “billing month,”  and rounding meter reader counts to the nearest 1,000 gallons instead of reading meters to the individual gallon or cubic foot, according to the lawsuit.

The “natural monopoly” on water services by the city forced residents to pay the overcharges, according to the lawsuit.

“Customers had no choice but to pay whatever the City claimed was due and owing, despite acknowledged inaccuracies by the City,” the lawsuit says.

The city ordinance governing water and sewer service includes provisions that allow those who think they are being billed incorrectly to call the city to request an investigation into individual claims and circumstances, prior to the payment of the bill.

The lawsuit does not state whether the plaintiffs contacted the city’s Water and Sewerage Department with concerns about whether their bills were incorrect before filing the lawsuit.

The 31-page lawsuit is the fourth filed against the city in relation to a water billing error related to the city’s four-tiered rate structure. (Photo: Lex Talamo)

According to city records, Defatta contacted the City of Shreveport three times related to his services. In 2013, he had a meter exchange. In July 2014, he contacted customer service about the winter consumption calculation related to a leak that caused his average winter consumption to increase that year. In March 2015, Defatta called about the tiered rates and the increase in rates, reporting that he had a leak that affected his sewer charges.

According to city records, Pernici called in December 2015 and was advised of his bill balance. The city reported no records regarding Jones’ account.

Africa Price, spokeswoman for the city, said none of the plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit complained or inquired about the city’s method of calculating charges. Price said no complaints had been made as of March 2015 related to the rounding and average monthly consumption calculations resulting in the suit’s claims of system-wide overcharges.

The lawsuit is the fourth filed against the city related to the water billing error involving the city’s four-tier water rates, in which high-volume water users pay more for their water than those who use less water.

The other lawsuits include a defamation suit against Mayor Ollie Tyler and Chief Administrative Officer Brian Crawford, filed on behalf of Pernici, a Shreveport businessman, and former Shreveport attorney Michael Wainwright.

Two other lawsuits include the Sand Beach lawsuit, alleging the city used confidential information to fix water rates where customers were under-billed, and a public records request filed on behalf of Wainwright, alleging that the city provided thousands of non-responsive documents to obscure relevant and missing information.

Regarding the Sand Beach suit, Pernici and Wainwright reported in October that they were involved in determining the source of the tier-rate error. Wainwright also is listed as co-counsel to the plaintiffs in the most recent lawsuit, filed March 29.

“Laws imposing taxes or fees must be strictly construed,” Wainwright wrote in an emailed statement to the Times. “The City has been on notice since last April that its water/sewer billings are not accurate. This matter is well overdue for correction. It’s troubling that every day citizens are being disconnected for failure to pay a bill that no one can assure is accurate.”

Wainwright also noted that Tyler acknowledged in a recent deposition that the city cannot assure customers their bills are correct. In that deposition, the mayor also said the city is conducting an audit of water and sewerage services to ensure that future bills are accurate.

Michael Wainwright (Photo: Scott Smith)

Julie Lafargue, the Shreveport attorney who represents the city in two of the related lawsuits, also will represent the city for this lawsuit, filed in the First Judicial Court.

“This fourth lawsuit against the City and/or Mayor Tyler is purely political,” Lafargue wrote in an emailed statement. “Perhaps others who have profited from sweet deals during prior administrations don’t like having this mayor in City Hall because she will not play the old political games.”

As an example, Lafargue said one of Pernici’s companies has a consulting contract with BFI, the operator of the city landfill. The contract pays Pernici a percentage of every dollar BFI makes from the city. BFI has a 25-year landfill contract, and Pernici got the consulting contract in 2003 under a previous administration.

“Those type deals have not happened on Mayor Tyler’s watch,” Lafargue wrote.

In 2006, Pernici and a waste disposal company he owned were sued — along with former mayor Keith Hightower, Shreveport Operational Services Director Mike Strong, the City of Shreveport and the BFI waste management company — in federal court by Harrelson Materials Management and Louisiana Environmental services. The companies alleged the city and those related were conspiring to drive a private landfill on Russell Road landfill out of business.

Pernici was later dismissed from the case by the federal judge involved.

Scott Pernici (Photo: Courtesy of Scott Pernici)

When asked about the landfill situation in January during an inquiry about the Sand Beach lawsuit, Pernici told the Times in an email that the landfill operator was not complying with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality rules and regulations. He said his dismissal from the suit resulted after he and others filed a “citizens suit” against the operator with the details of the violations.

“I don’t know what this has to do with the current water tier error, but those are the facts. The only comparison to the water error issue I see related to the Harrelson suit is this. If our government officials (La. DEQ, Mayor Tyler, City Attorney Bradford, W & S Director Featherston etc.)  would stop running, hiding and denying and own up to their mistakes, the taxpaying citizens will be better off,” Pernici wrote in his email. “The Harrelson suit cost the State of Louisiana 3.5 million, and the water tier error and cover-up will cost the City of Shreveport at least 1.5 million and who knows what in legal fees and damages.”

Lafargue acknowledged the growing attorney costs involved with the lawsuits but said the city will vigorously defend this lawsuit and the previous lawsuits.

“Nevertheless, the suits are a drain on City and taxpayer money, and consume a great deal of time for the City employees who are forced to deal with lawyers instead of the important work of City government— rebuilding an aging sewer systems, providing clean water to citizens, paving and repairing aging street infrastructure and addressing the everyday issues of citizens,” Lafargue wrote.

The March 29 lawsuit is the first class action suit brought against the city in the water billing situation. The lawsuit states such an action was taken because separate lawsuits “would result in time consuming and costly duplication” and that prosecution might result in “the possibility of inconsistent outcomes and contradictory rulings” even though “the predominant questions of law and fact” are the same for all cases.

The lawsuit asks that the city produce a detailed account-by-account report of amounts overcharged to residents and that the city be prohibited from terminating water and sewerage services to residents until it can prove the bills are correct, as well as damages for the individuals in the suit.

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