Colorado highway operator claims Tesla dealership owes $34K in unpaid tolls

BROOMFIELD — Northwest Parkway LLC, the private group that maintains and operates the connector toll road between Highway E-470 in the east and U.S. Highway 36 in the west, is suing Tesla Inc. over unpaid tolls.

The lawsuit alleges that vehicles with license plates registered to Tesla’s dealership on Broadway in Littleton have racked up more than $34,000 in Go-Pass tolls, which the electric car company helmed by Elon Musk has failed to pay on time. 

“Ongoing and continuous use of the Northwest Parkway by the motor vehicle(s) registered to defendant Tesla Inc. constitutes consent and agreement to the terms of use and creates a binding contract between Tesla Inc. and plaintiff Northwest Parkway LLC,” alleged the complaint, filed last week in Broomfield County District Court. “… The failure to pay Go-Pass toll bills on time is a breach of the contract for use of the Northwest Parkway and subjects defendant Tesla Inc. to additional fees and legal action.”

The Northwest Parkway opened to traffic in late 2003 and toll collection began the following year. In November 2007 Northwest Parkway LLC entered into a 99-year lease with Northwest Parkway Public Highway Authority that allows the company to collect tolls in exchange for maintaining the highway. 

Go-Pass toll rates range from $1.70 to $5.20 per trip for two-axle vehicles, meaning that, if NP LLC’s allegations are true, Tesla’s dealer cars could have used Northwest Parkway as many as about 20,000 times without paying.

Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday morning.

Lawsuit filings that allege nonpayment from Musk-operated companies have become familiar occurrences in Boulder Valley courts since the billionaire bought Twitter (now X Corp.) last fall for $44 billion.

This June a Boulder County District Court judge signed off on an eviction order, allowing a landlord to remove X from its offices in the S’Park development in central Boulder. The company hasn’t been active in that space for months.

X Corp., as of this summer, also appeared to be  behind on rent payments at its 1301 Walnut St. offices in Boulder, which were put on the sublease market in 2022 after the company vacated.

It’s not just major landlords and highway operators that Musk’s companies have allegedly stiffed. Avalanche Commercial Cleaning Inc., a local, Boulder-based small business, claimed in a May lawsuit that X Corp. owed nearly $100,000 in unpaid bills for cleaning services provided at the company’s Walnut Street offices.

The case is Northwest Parkway LLC v. Tesla Inc., case: 2023CV30218, filed Sept. 23, 2023, in Broomfield County District Court.

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