LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) – Former guests of two Las Vegas hotels alleges they were unlawfully charged a fee for internet access.
Steven Schnitzer, Kerri Shapiro, Marianne Denis, and Gabriel Levin, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, filed a complaint on Nov. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada against Wynn Resorts LTD and Wynn Las Vegas LLC, doing business as Wynn Las Vegas and Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, for alleged violation of the Internet Tax Freedom Act.
According to the complaint, the defendants charge a mandatory overnight resort fee to guests that includes two fitness classes per day, access to digital publications, Wi-Fi access for up to four devices and nightclub priority access. They plaintiffs allege that they are charged regardless whether the goods or services included in the resort fee are used.
The plaintiffs allege they were also charged Clark County Combined Transient Lodging Tax on the entire resort fee, including the portion of the resort fee that constitutes charges for internet access.
The plaintiffs alleges the defendants improperly collected from the guests millions of dollars in illegal and improper taxes on internet access and retained 2 percent of the Clark County Combine Transient Lodging Tax that they collected.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek judgment for damages in the form of all money improperly collected or received, award of pre and post-judgment interest, attorneys' fees, costs, any further remedy the Court may deem just and proper.
They are represented by Don Springmeyer and Jordan Butler of Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin LLP in Las Vegas, Michael Dell’Angelo of Berger & Montague PC in Philadelphia and R. Bryant McCulley of McCulley McCluer PLLC in Charleston, South Carolina.
The plaintiffs' attorneys filed a notice with the court Nov. 17 that they are handling similar cases against Caesars Entertainment Corp., MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands Corp. also citing the Internet Tax Freedom Act.
U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada case number 2:17-cv-02868-RFB-GWF