Car-rental customers will get piece of lawsuit settlement

Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed four years ago against several rental car companies have begun receiving notices to claim their piece of the settlement.

Under terms approved in October, people who rented cars at the Las Vegas and Reno airports will receive coupons good for a $10 discount on future rentals, or $20 if they had more than two rentals. The attorneys in the case, Robertson & Benevento, will receive $1.4 million in cash fees, while the four named plaintiffs in the class action will split $20,000.

The case started because Hertz, following the industry custom, charged its customers a separate fee to recoup fees paid to the airports. Later, Enterprise was added as a defendant through its acquisition of the Alamo and National brands. Depending on which company was involved, the claimants had to rent a car for varying periods ending on Sept. 30, 2009, to be eligible for the settlement.

Starting Oct. 1, 2009, Nevada law changed to allow separate billing of the fee.