Firm Wins $108M Class Action Against City of Charlotte

Daedalus, LLC v. City of Charlotte, 282 N.C. App. 454, 872 S.E.2d 105 (2022)

Bryson PLLC attorneys Dan Bryson, Jim DeMay, and Hunter Bryson, along with co-counsel, achieved a $108 million class action settlement with the City of Charlotte, North Carolina as court-appointed lead class counsel on behalf of a class of property owners and developers who were illegally charged water and sewer impact fees by Charlotte. This settlement is believed to be the largest class action settlement in North Carolina state court history.

The Decision

The decision came after years of vigorous litigation and appeals, including a decision from the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Daedalus, LLC v. City of Charlotte, 282 N.C. App. 454, 872 S.E.2d 105 (2022). This settlement gave thousands of property owners and developers across Charlotte and its surrounding communities in Mecklenburg County the refund, plus interest, of illegal and unauthorized fees that they were coerced into paying by Charlotte under the threat of being denied building permits or other development permit approvals for their properties.

Case Background

The historic Charlotte settlement was the culmination of a decade-long fight by Bryson attorneys to stand up for landowners across North Carolina. The landowners were routinely required to pay these illegal and abusive impact fees as a condition of receiving permission to build homes or perform other activities at their properties.

These efforts began in 2012 when Bryson attorney Jim DeMay and his co-counsel filed a lawsuit challenging the water and sewer impact fees charged by the Town of Carthage, North Carolina. After losing this case before the trial court, Jim and his co-counsel continued the fight and litigated the case all the way to the North Carolina Supreme Court. They were successful in obtaining two landmark decisions on behalf of property owners that held that the Carthage impact fees were illegally charged:

• Quality Built Homes, Inc. v. Town of Carthage, 369 N.C. 1, 789 S.E.2d 454 (2016) (QBH-I)
• Quality Built Homes, Inc. v. Town of Carthage, 371 N.C. 60, 813 S.E.2d 218 (2018) (QBH-2)

Following the Quality Built Homes case, Bryson attorneys pursued similar relief on behalf of property owners and developers who were charged the same abusive fees in other parts of North Carolina. Through these cases, Bryson attorneys, along with co-counsel, have to date been able to secure settlements and judgment refunds of over $200 million to property owners and developers.

Their efforts have also brought about meaningful change in North Carolina with respect to how water and sewer impact fees must be fairly charged to property owners and developers, including the North Carolina General Assembly’s enactment of the “Public Water and Sewer System Development Fee Act,” N.C.G.S. § 162A-201, et seq. Bryson attorney Jim DeMay participated in the drafting of this critical legislation that established fair standards and criteria for these fees.