P.J.'s Concrete Pumping Service v Nextel West Corporation
Class Certified Against Nextel West Corporation in 17-State Unauthorized Municipal Tax Case
The class has been certified in a class action filed against Nextel West Corporation on behalf of Nextel customers residing in Illinois and 16 other states, alleging that by collecting municipality taxes in unincorporated areas, the company violates the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. The action seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The class is composed of all persons who have the paid Nextel local, municipal, gross receipts or substantially similar taxes who do not live or have a place of business within a municipality that authorizes Nextel to assess the taxes. Nextel West apparently operates in California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington.
Named plaintiff, P.J.'s Concrete Pumping Service, Inc., alleges that its place of business is located in unincorporated Lake County, just outside the Barrington village limits. Nextel is authorized to collect taxes on behalf of the municipalities that imposed them. The taxes are allegedly based on the revenues that Nextel generates from the cellular service it provides to customers residing within the municipalities that impose them. If the zip code the customer provided when signing up for service with Nextel placed the customer within a zip code area including a municipality authorizing taxes, then Nextel allegedly assesses taxes against the customer. P.J.'s monthly bills allegedly included assessments for "City-Utility Tax" and "City-Gross Receipts Tax." Nextel allegedly even continued to collect the taxes from those customers who informed the company that they lived in unincorporated areas or in municipalities that did not authorize such taxes.
