Hertz Can’t Escape Car Rental Fees Class Action

An Illinois federal judge partially granted Hertz’s request for summary judgment on an unfair rental fees class action lawsuit, but decided that Hertz would have to face some of the customer’s allegations.

Chief U.S. District Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel trimmed customer Emma Bradley’s proposed Hertz fees class action lawsuit last week.

Bradley claims that Hertz overcharges customers by adding fees like an “energy surcharge” and “vehicles licensing cost recovery.” 

Judge Rosenstengel determined that Bradley could not claim that the company misled customers about the fees, noting that Bradley admitted that she had not seen the company’s disclaimers about the fees, but that they were disclosed on their website.

However, Judge Rosenstengel did permit Bradley to pursue some allegations against Hertz because she sufficiently claimed that the company overcharged for fees by miscalculating the extra charges.

According to Bradley’s Hertz class action lawsuit, Hertz specifically overcharged on the energy surcharge. Allegedly, Hertz based the surcharge on projected energy costs, which Bradly asserts are higher than the actual costs of energy.

Additionally, the Hertz overcharge class action lawsuit said that Hertz overcharged for vehicle registration and licensing. Allegedly, Hertz charged Bradley a flat fee that was higher than the company’s actual costs for licensing, registering, and titling the car.

The Hertz class action lawsuit states that many customers have been overcharged based on this model. Allegedly, Hertz has used this model for years, and has not updated it based on an accurate picture of the costs.

Bradley had attempted to hold Hertz liable for omissions and representation, but Judge Rosenstengel determined those claims will be eliminated. Bradley allegedly admitted that Hertz did actually disclose the fees on its website, but she did not see the disclaimer when using the site.

Based on this, Judge Rosenstengel said that “Bradley testified that she never received or saw a document from Hertz that was deceiving or misrepresented the facts with respect to either the energy surcharge or the VLCR.”

According to Judge Rosenstengel’s review of the situation and Bradley’s claims, the only way Bradley was harmed was in that the fees that she was charged were allegedly too high — not that they had been charged at all or the descriptions of the fees were misleading.

Bradley and other Hertz customers are represented by Richard S. Cornfeld and Daniel S. Levy of the Law Office of Richard S. Cornfeld, David G. Bender and Jessica C. Gittemeier of Rosenblum Goldenhersh, Anthony S. Bruning, Anthony S. Bruning Jr., Ryan L. Bruning and Edward Roth of the Bruning Law Firm LLC and Mark Goldenberg, Thomas P. Rosenfeld and Kevin P. Green of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli PC.

The Hertz Car Rental Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Bradley v. The Hertz Corp., Case No. 3:15-cv-00652, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

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