FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Fort Smith resident’s lawsuit alleging that the city failed to disclose that it was not recycling for nearly two years has moved forward to trial.
Jennifer Merriott filed suit in 2017, stating that the city had transported over 7,700 tons of residential recyclable material to a landfill because no recycling facility was available to receive the material, adding that “the City also kept residents unaware that their monthly sanitation fees were paying for the continued and needless use of curbside recycling trucks.”
Merriott filed a class action suit on behalf of herself and other residents that paid a monthly sanitation fee over the 22-month period in question. She sued the city for $853,000 in order to give those people a refund.
“Local governments have broad powers to control the disposition of garbage, refuse and trash,” the city responded in a trial brief. “There is no legal duty to explain the managerial, discretionary decisions of those operating the sanitation fund.”
The suit moved to trial in the courtroom of Judge Stephen Tabor on June 27.