DeCarli’s, the propane business that has been accused in county court of violating a settlement agreement by sending bills years late, has agreed to temporarily stop assessing late fees for customers who do not pay charges incurred before June 1, according to a recent court filing. The Petaluma company said it will separate current and past charges on bills and agreed to “refrain from any intentional termination of propane delivery services” to customers who don’t pay older charges. But the new agreement “does not prohibit DeCarli’s from billing for current deliveries of gas or taking appropriate collection actions for failure to pay a balance due and owing for current deliveries of gas.” The recent filing comes after the company hired new legal counsel, the Palo Alto firm Perkins Coie LLP, to respond to a complaint by the plaintiffs of a class-action suit filed in 2009. In the recent filing, DeCarli’s requested additional time for the new lawyers to get up to speed on the case; an initial hearing on the matter, which had been set for Oct. 4, has now been postponed until at least Dec. 5. Back in 2009, the propane business was the subject of a lawsuit alleging it had improperly charged for propane, among other issues. A settlement agreement reached in 2011, which paid out about $34,000 to 84 customers, stipulated that the company would bill in a “timely manner” and clearly explain charges. State law prohibits bills for charges that are over four years old—though the new complaint argues that bills should be sent much sooner, within 45 days of customers incurring charges. Over the last year and a half, DeCarli’s had sent out bills for charges from as far back as eight years ago, according to documents submitted in the case. Many people also received a form letter celebrating the fact that the business was instituting a new computerized billing system.