Since 2018, Booz Allen Hamilton has been charging consumers tens of millions of dollars in “junk fees” each year for reservations made through Recreation.gov. Earlier this year, seven outdoor enthusiasts represented by Tycko & Zavareei filed a class action lawsuit seeking to put an end to those junk fee practices. As explained in the Complaint, the lawsuit is “about holding Booz Allen—a multibillion dollar for profit federal contractor—responsible for forcing American consumers to pay Ticketmaster-style Junk Fees to access National Parks and other federal recreational lands.”
On April 6, 2023, The Wall Street Journal ran a feature article titled “As National Parks Visits Surge, Booz Allen Benefits,” which identified that over $140 million dollars in junk fees have been paid to Booz Allen since 2018. Tycko & Zavareei’s lawsuit was featured prominently in the article.
As detailed in the case filings, the junk fees violate state consumer protection laws because Booz Allen deceptively runs Recration.gov to create the false impression that the junk fees are paid to the federal land management agencies, such as the National Park Service, when the junk fees are actually kept by Booz Allen. “The junk fees charged by Booz Allen on Recreation.gov also violate the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which was specifically passed by Congress to avoid burdening federal lands with unnecessary and duplicative fees,” says Wesley M. Griffith, who is one of the lawyers at Tycko & Zavareei representing plaintiffs and the proposed classes.
Additionally, the lawsuit details that the junk fee practices are particularly problematic when charged to active-duty military, veterans, Gold Star Families, and the permanently disabled, as those groups are entitled to free National Park access under federal law and should not be charged junk fees under any circumstances for park access.
The lawsuit is explicit that it does not challenge the use fees that are actually paid to and kept by the federal land management agencies that go to supporting the administration of National Parks and other federal lands. The lawsuit also does not challenge the ability of the federal land management agencies to put in place appropriate land management processes to ensure that sensitive habitats are not subject to overuse.
Plaintiffs and the proposed classes are represented by Wesley M. Griffith, Andrea R. Gold, Glenn Chappell, Leora Friedman, and Cort Carlson of Tycko & Zavareei LLP, and supported by paralegal James Morrison. Tycko & Zavareei is a class action law firm that frequently investigates the exorbitant and unlawful fees that companies extract from everyday Americans.
Learn more about the lawsuit here.
Read the article on The Wall Street Journal
The case is Robyn Wilson et al. v. Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., Eastern District of Virginia Case No. 23-cv-00043. A copy of the Complaint is available here.