recreation.gov lawsuit

FYI:

https://www.rvtravel.com/federal-lawsuit-seeks-halt-and-restitution-of-wrongful-fees-charged-by-recreationgov-rvt-1093b/

About damn time.

I like to refer Booz Allen as Snooze Allen

please add reserve america to the list too!

I would love to see this suit be successful.  That said, I’d be surprised if BA hadn’t considered their legal exposure and made a calculation about how they operate based on that….  Are they legally sound and this isn’t actually going anywhere?  Or was their calculus that they could make more money off these fees than the eventual legal fight would cost?  Does anyone who knows more about the law have a sense of how good a case the plaintiffs have?

complaint is here if anyone wants to read it. 

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.533119/gov.uscourts.vaed.533119.1.0_2.pdf

Anon Anonwrote:

FYI:

https://www.rvtravel.com/federal-lawsuit-seeks-halt-and-restitution-of-wrongful-fees-charged-by-recreationgov-rvt-1093b/

Nothing would make me happier than to see rec.gov burned to the ground

For those curious I read through the a lot of complaint (IANAL). It's trying to generate a bunch of class action lawsuits for various causes.

The majority of it hinges on the fees being "recreation fees," which have a special meaning according to the law. In the Red Rock case the BLM said they weren't, but lost that argument and gave up appealing it. I think that also means Booz Allen Hamilton isn't the correct defendant for much of this lawsuit, but what do I know.

The details:

• Parks didn't adequately announce the fees. Basically the same as the Red Rock case.
• Free parks passes (e.g. for the Military) legally must be free and cover entrance fees.
• Not allowed to have duplicate fees (e.g. wilderness permit fee + reservation fee should just be 1 fee).
• Lotteries are illegal most everywhere.
• A whole lot of "misleading consumers" according to various state laws.

It’d be nice if this at least made the nightly news to show a bunch of people who blindly pay where their money goes, get some more people pissed off and hopefully bring change whenever their contract ends

I now believe there will be a Zombie apocalypse......

Are these fees going to our underfunded parks or the private companies that run the websites?

Climb Onwrote:

Are these fees going to our underfunded parks or the private companies that run the websites?

From what I understand it's both. There's the entrance fees, parks passes, campground fees, etc that were charged previously for use (or at least were charged at some parks/campgrounds/etc). Those still go to the agency in question. Additional fees such as the "processing fee" go to Booz Allen. For example, this year I went to get a Christmas tree permit from the FS and instead of being able to buy one from the FS office or a local business for $5 like I have in the past, I had to go to recreation.gov and buy one online for $7.50 of which $5 was the FS Christmas tree fee plus a $2.50 processing fee.

$2.50 cents please to hit the prompt for the next screen, please..........then another $2.00 to check out....little by little..........

Yeah I did a lottery for $10.00 for a chance to get a campsite in the Valley, denied, so who’s getting the ten dollars…

Sweet gig for the vendor.

Boozing Aliens. Check.

This land is your Booze Allen Hamiltons land
This land is my Booze Allen Hamiltons land

From the Californias to the New York island
From the redwood forests

Austin Donisanwrote:

For those curious I read through the a lot of complaint (IANAL). It's trying to generate a bunch of class action lawsuits for various causes.

The majority of it hinges on the fees being "recreation fees," which have a special meaning according to the law. In the Red Rock case the BLM said they weren't, but lost that argument and gave up appealing it. I think that also means Booz Allen Hamilton isn't the correct defendant for much of this lawsuit, but what do I know.

The details:

• Parks didn't adequately announce the fees. Basically the same as the Red Rock case.
• Free parks passes (e.g. for the Military) legally must be free and cover entrance fees.
• Not allowed to have duplicate fees (e.g. wilderness permit fee + reservation fee should just be 1 fee).
• Lotteries are illegal most everywhere.
• A whole lot of "misleading consumers" according to various state laws.

What was decided with RR? I was still paying those junk fees 1 year ago?!?!

This is AWESOME news. Please consider sharing this news far and wide to help get people's panties in a bunch. This is our opportunity to get rid of "Junk Fees," and help get our National lands open again. 

It's an incredibly small move, but it's SOMETHING. I would be more than happy to join a  class-action lawsuit against these jerks profiting off our public lands.  Double taxation at its finest. 

Tom Shermanwrote:

What was decided with RR? I was still paying those junk fees 1 year ago?!?!

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/122336589/reservation-fee-at-red-rock-gone

It was decided that the $2 fee was a recreation fee and not a separate commission. This meant that the BLM was supposed to go through the notice process for new fees.

The fee was stopped for a few months, but they did the notices and I think it's back now.

Austin Donisanwrote:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/122336589/reservation-fee-at-red-rock-gone

It was decided that the $2 fee was a recreation fee and not a separate commission. This meant that the BLM was supposed to go through the notice process for new fees.

The fee was stopped for a few months, but they did the notices and I think it's back now.

Can confirm. I just paid the $2 to reserve an entry slot.