Alexander v. City of Detroit

This case concerns a constitutional attack on a Detroit refuse collection ordinance which is no longer in effect. Plaintiffs brought suit to recover money spent for refuse collection during the effective period of this ordinance.

While a number of constitutional deficiencies are advanced by plaintiffs, we need only deal with a single dispositive constitutional issue, namely:(1) Was Detroit ordinance 442-G violative of equal protection in that waste from certain apartment buildings with more than four units was improperly classed as "commercial” and subject to charges for refuse services…