Mixed Drink Tax Sparks Legal Battle, Scrutiny
Oklahoma restaurants, consumer activists continue fight over mixed drink tax
by Nolan Clay, NewsOK.com
For six years or so, former attorney Tom Erbar traveled across the state, buying mixed drinks at more than 2,000 restaurants and bars.
Often, he took along his mother, Gladys Erbar.
An acquaintance, John Truel, was doing the same, along with eight others who call themselves consumer activists.
They claim they were charged too much for their alcohol hundreds of times.
In February 2011, Truel and his group sued more than 750 businesses and asked a judge to make their lawsuit a class-action case. Two weeks later, Tom Erbar and Gladys Erbar filed a separate lawsuit against many of the same businesses.
More than three years later, those lawsuits are still pending in Canadian County District Court.
At stake is a lot of money.