Garbage customers to join lawsuit

Tuesday, July 16, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

Attorney Frank Cremen has begun the lengthy task of notifying 400,000 potential claimants who may join his class-action lawsuit against Republic Services of Southern Nevada for overbilling customers to pay a state tax.

He plans to hire an outside company to notify all of the customers of the trash company, either through newspaper advertisements or direct mail. Once notified, all of the customers will become part of the lawsuit unless they request in writing to be removed, Cremen said.

"It's a huge effort," Cremen said.

He sued the company in 2000 for charging customers 18 cents every quarter to help pay a $25 per employee per quarter state business tax. The lawsuit was certified as a class-action lawsuit last month.

The Nevada Legislature amended the 1991 tax to allow companies with government-regulated rates to pass on the exact costs to the consumer, but Cremen challenges the allowance in his lawsuit. Also, he says that when the local government allowed Republic to increase its rates in 1994, it should have stopped the surplus tax charge.

Cremen also alleges that Republic collected more than it owed for the business tax.