JXN Water can't cut off water to four apartment complexes who owe hundred of thousands of dollars of unpaid water bills thanks to U.S. District Judge Chokwe Antar Wingate. WLBT reported:
Water will stay on at four Jackson apartment complexes for at least another two weeks, following a decision handed down by a federal judge. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate extended a temporary restraining order blocking JXN Water from disconnecting services at four complexes owned by Woodlands Property Holdings and Blue Magma Residential, including the Park at St. Andrews. Wingate also ordered the parties to provide additional briefings to show who bears the burden of proof when disputing water bills - specifically, the customer of the utility.... JXN Water sent a final disconnect notice to St. Andrews on August 4. Three other complexes received final notices in July. Woodlands attorney Robert Ireland argues that JXN Water’s tiered billing structure is discriminatory to residents who live in apartment complexes. He also argues that JXN Water does not provide a way for customers to dispute incorrect bills, in violation of a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.... “What good is it to dispute our bills when they make it clear there is no process?” he asked. “What happens [is they] don’t respond... then they say, ‘The meter works. It’s not our problem.’” JXN Water attorney Mitch McGuffey says the Supreme Court case in question does indeed require utilities to have a procedure for addressing customer complaints, but that procedure should not be burdensome. “If they come to us and say their bill is wrong... and that employee says, ‘I think your bill is right,’ that’s it,” he said. “The process is afforded.”... “The problem is when they got a new meter, they didn’t like the new usage,” he said. “Their dispute is, ‘We don’t think the usage can be true.’ It’s the new meter goes in, they start getting accurate bills, and they don’t want to pay them.” According to court records, St. Andrews has been charged approximately $895,000 for water and sewer use since early 2022. Owners have paid roughly $485,000 toward that amount, leaving an unpaid balance of around $410,000. Woodlands and Blue Magma argue the bills are incorrect and blame the new water meter installed at the property in 2022. Rest of article.
15 comments:
Split the disputed amounts and give the offenders 30 days to pay up or no more water. And, get rid of the lawyers. Problem solved.
These guys are spending more money on legal fees than the total water bills.
They didn't spend the water money on
water. It went in general fund instead
of water account. At one point they
collected $138,000 and Jxn Water
got none of it. The burden of proof
is on the customer because they are
disputing the bill. They don't know how
the hundreds of tenants are using water so how can they dispute. I'm
not sure they have thought about that.
The owners of this apartment complex are literally using their own tenants to block a city and the entire court system from enforcing what should be a simple matter: Pay your water bill or get cut off. The judge should be ashamed to allow himself to be "owned" like this.
I'm not sure anyone will get shut off
now. It seems like it defeats the
purpose of what Jxn Water is trying
to do.
KF Woodland lawyer is he on the
mayor's housing committee?
Everywhere I've read it's on the customer for burden of proof.
I agree with Jxn Water attorney. New
meter correct bill don't like it.
I completely agree with you on this. It’s pretty clear they owe at least some of the money.
So now Wingate is too liberal simply for following the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling? Good grief. Due process is more than an employee saying they think the bill is correct. Be that as it may, these apartment owners simply don’t want to pay their water bills and pocket the money. The should have to pay what they legitimately owe, as well as attorney’s fees to Jackson Water because there is no doubt they owe something!
I'm dreading the final decision. I can't
Imagine how it will turn out. May not
be able to shut off anyone else.
Did these situations begin, when customers were getting outrageous water bills (following the problematic switch to Siemens), and/or when they were not getting bills, at-all, and the Water Department (and its assigns) were non-responsive/uncooperative/unreasonable?
Did anyone representing the water entity (or its successor), seek to settle with the Landlords, for reasonable amounts of money? Did the landlords seek to settle for reasonable amounts?
Or are the Landlords simply playing a Bleed-&-Abandon game? ...pocketing the cash, and using losses on the properties, to reduce their tax liability?
A third possibility, is that the various functionaries are receiving inducements from the Landlords, TO BE UNREASONABLE, thus providing documentation of an "impossible situation" which the Landlords might use to justify/excuse their abandonment of the properties. In other words, is this some sort of convoluted COLLUSION, between supposedly-opposing parties?
Wingate should require the complexes to pay over what has been collected.
Putting the water monies into the operating account was conversion, a civil tort if not a crime.
Jxn Water is not asking for water bills
before they took over the water system
Why can't something be done when they take the water money and use it
for something else?
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