A lawsuit which charges that the Fultondale Gas Board has overcharged customers may get class-action status, if plaintiff’s attorneys get their way.

The suit, filed in January in Jefferson Circuit Court by plaintiffs Michael Watson and John Douglas, alleges that the utility violated its franchise agreement with the City of Gardendale, charging more than 2.5 percent above the rate charged to similar customers by Alagasco.

“We discovered the Gas Board was charging more for gas than they were allowed under various ordinances and other agreements,” said Jim Roberts, one of the attorneys representing Watson and Evans. “We looked at bills people were getting versus those from Alagasco and other sources, and found they were overcharging.”

Watson lives in Gardendale, while Douglas lives in Mt. Olive and was formerly a Fultondale resident.

Roberts said the Gas Board is allowed to charge up to 2.5 percent of Alagasco’s rate, but some customers were being charged anywhere from a one to ten dollars over that, some even more. “I’m not sure there’s a pattern to this without more discovery,” he said.

(Discovery is the legal process by which attorneys acquire information from the adverse party in the case to help them prepare motions and line up witnesses, among other things.)

Roberts want Judge Michael Graffeo to grant the case class-action status. If Graffeo agrees, virtually all of the Gas Board’s customers in Fultondale, Gardendale, Mt. Olive and some unincorporated areas would all become plaintiffs, and ostensibly share in any judgement won against the board. Roberts said there are about 13,000 customers.

Mayor Jim Lowery, who is superintendent of the Gas Board by virtue of his office, discounted the claims of overcharging and said the lawsuit smacks of political motives in an election year.

“It smells,” Lowery said. “We were rocking along, the rates were good, and there weren’t any issues I could see. I think someone has talked some attorneys into doing this to make some money. There are people involved with other issues who are politically motivated.”

Lowery wouldn’t name names, but attorneys replaced original plaintiff Charles E. Evans with Douglas, who is the owner of Home Field Sports Grill, which was located on Decatur Highway; it was heavily damaged by the April 2011 tornado and has been closed since.

Douglas has been feuding with Lowery and the city over his property, claiming the mayor wants to force him out so that the city can use the location for other redevelopment purposes. Douglas has run a public battle with Lowery through the Internet, particularly a Facebook group with more than 2,000 fans.

“The [franchise] agreement was entered under the purest of motives. We wanted to do that agreement — we weren’t forced into it,” Lowery said. “We’re not regulated by the Public Service Commission on rates. We pay Gardendale a franchise fee, based on what their customers pay. It’s a very complex, involved case to look at.”

The original franchise agreement was set up by John McCain and Bill Noble, who were then mayors of Fultondale and Gardendale, respectively. That agreement was designed to level rates charged to customers in the two cities. Fultondale City Attorney Charlie Waldrep said the mayors entered the agreement almost 20 years ago.

“A tariff is issued by the state [for Alagasco], and the Gas Board has 60 days to adjust its rates,” Waldrep said. “I can understand why, looking forward, they took an arbitrary rate [as a benchmark] and abided by that.”

Lowery said that if there are issues with overcharging, the Gas Board has reserves to pay back customers.

“If anyone is due any amount of money, it’s set aside to take care of it. We want to be open about it,” Lowery said.

Judge Graffeo’s hearing to determine class-action status is scheduled for March 22.

“We requested this status conference, because we don’t think there is any liability here, and under Alabama law class-action ratepayer cases against non-investor-owned utilities aren’t allowed,” Waldrep said.