Paetzold v. Metropolitan District Commission

Plaintiffs brought this suit against the Metropolitan District Commission (“MDC”) in March of 2018 in Hartford Superior Court to recover “non-member town surcharges” that MDC imposed, primarily on residents of East Granby, Farmington, Glastonbury and South Windsor, during the period from March 6, 2012 through October 1, 2014.  In an earlier case brought by the Town of Glastonbury, the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that these non-member town surcharges were improper.  However, the case brought by Glastonbury did not resolve whether the MDC was required to repay any of the improper surcharges.

In October of 2018, the Superior Court denied the MDC’s motion to strike Plaintiffs’ claims that the Commission’s surcharges violated an implied contract with their customers.  Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint, and the MDC filed its answer on March 1, 2019.  On August 14, 2019 the Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion to certify the case as a class action, appointed William and Laurie Paetzold to serve as representatives of the class, and appointed Izard, Kindall & Raabe to serve as class counsel.  The Class includes all persons who were charged a non-member town surcharge by MDC from March 6, 2012 through October 1, 2014, excluding the Defendant, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents or employees.

The court gave final approval of a settlement on September 3, 2020. The settlement was for the full amount of the overcharges.