Waste Management of Virginia Hit with Class Action Over ‘Inactivity Charges’

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An Ohio business claims in a proposed class action lawsuit that Waste Management of Virginia, Inc. has levied unlawful “inactivity charges” against customers who request no waste removal services during a given month.

The plaintiff claims its contract with Waste Management allows the company to charge set amounts per haul for waste removal services during months in which the business requests such.

According to the case, however, Waste Management has hit the plaintiff on numerous occasions with an “inactivity charge” to resume services following months in which the business did not request waste removal. The lawsuit alleges that although the plaintiff’s contract allows for the defendant to collect various other charges in addition to the per-haul fee, the inactivity charge is not permitted through the agreement.

“The language and amounts used by Defendant for Inactivity charges do not correspond with or refer to anything described in Defendant’s contract with Plaintiff or class members,” the complaint states.

According to the case, Waste Management has levied the unlawful charge against customers despite knowing they relied on the company’s “truthful breakdown and inclusion of information and amounts on its monthly invoices,” especially in the event when an invoice is sent directly to a customer’s billing department rather than the individual with whom Waste Management originally contracted.

The plaintiff claims the defendant included a $185 inactivity charge on 10 monthly invoices between December 2016 and January 2018, followed by $400 inactivity charges during 14 months between February 2018 and September 2019.