Beck lawsuit against City of Lubbock storm water scheme amended

Via press release:

John Beck and Beck Steel, Inc. Amend Lawsuit Against City of Lubbock, Adding Class Action Seeking Refunds For Ratepayers Of Illegal Storm Water Drainage Overcharges

Texas – Today, Tuesday, September 8, 2015, John C. Beck and Beck Steel, Inc. amended their lawsuit in Lubbock County State District Court against the City of Lubbock, Texas (the “City”), asking the Court to certify a class action in order to require the City to refund to the Lubbock Storm Water Drainage Ratepayers all illegal Storm Water Drainage overcharges they have been required to pay.

The amended lawsuit still requests a permanent injunction be issued, preventing the City from continuing to overcharge and illegally collect millions of dollars in excessive and unreasonable drainage charges each year from the Storm Water rate payers.

John C. Beck, the President of Beck Steel, Inc., said that he and his company, like every other ratepayer, within the City of Lubbock being charged a monthly Storm Water drainage fee, and have been, and continue to be, unfairly overcharged by the City. Mr. Beck, hoping to avoid litigation, tried on multiple occasions to get the City to examine the legality of its Storm Water Drainage charge practices and commit that it would cease overcharging the illegal fees; but the City stonewalled every attempt, forcing litigation as the only means of addressing this issue.

Mr. Beck believes that amending the lawsuit to seek refunds of the illegal overcharges is the next logical step in trying to correct the wrongful overcharging that is being perpetrated upon the Storm Water Drainage Ratepayers. Mr. Beck likens the illegal and excessive Storm Water Drainage Fee amounts to a hidden tax being collected without any accountability to the Ratepayers. Mr. Beck states that this matter is not about money for him, it is about righting a wrong. Mr. Beck believes it is every citizen’s civic duty to stop an overzealous government from illegally collecting funds contrary to state and local laws. As Mr. Beck previously has said, if someone doesn’t challenge the City’s illegal actions, it will continue unchecked.