Nestle Waters Late Fee Class Action Lawsuit

A federal class action lawsuit claims that Nestle Waters North America, Inc. – the largest bottled water company in the U.S. – is defrauding its water delivery customers by charging excessive late fees that should have never been charged in the first place. It is seeking over $50 million in damages and costs for Nestle Waters customers.

According to the Nestle Waters class action lawsuit, the company regularly breaches its contracts with water delivery customers nationwide by assessing late fees on their accounts during a grace period, even when customers have made timely payments. This “excessive” late fee is often up to 75% or more of their monthly bill. The class action lawsuit says this billing scheme is conducted through all Nestle Waters divisions, including Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Arrowhead Brand 100% Mountain Spring Water, Deer Park Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, and Perrier.

“Under its own written policy, Nestle Waters provides a 10-day grace period after the due date for customers to make payments on their accounts. Nestle’s policy further says it ‘may’ assess a late fee only after the grace period has expired. But, rather than adhering to this policy, Nestle routinely adds a $15 late fee to customers’ accounts on the first day of the grace period,” the Nestle Waters class action lawsuit states.

“What good is a grace period of you soak the customers with a late fee before the grace period ends?” the lead attorney for the Plaintiffs asks. “To add insult, the water company’s punitive late fee aims to drains its customers of hard-earned monies.”

Nestle Waters’ billing practices are unfair in two ways, the class action lawsuits says. First, it promises customers a grace period for paying invoices, but then ignores its own promise and imposes late fees even when customers timely pay their bills during the grace period. Second, when customers do pay late, Nestle Waters imposes an exorbitant late fee sometimes exceeding 75% annually, and this constitutes an illegal penalty.

“Under the law, a late fee must be reasonable,” said another attorney representing the Plaintiffs. “Nestle Waters’ flat $15-$20 late fee fails that test because the company charges the same amount no matter how large the fee is in relation to the amount overdue, or how many days the payment is late.”

The Nestle Waters Late Fee Class Action Lawsuit is asking the court to award class certification, award compensatory damages for the Plaintiffs, treble damages, and all costs and disbursements related to the suit, as well as to enjoin Nestle Waters from continuing to implement its unlawful trade practices and schemes. It is alleging breach of contract and violation of the Consumer Fraud Act.