Court Certifies Class Action Against AT&T Wireless

[Codepyro]

A class action lawsuit filed against AT&T Wireless challenging its off-cycle billing practices has cleared its first hurdle. A U.S. district judge in Denver certified the class as valid, green lighting the way for the lawsuit to move forward.

The suit alleges that AT&T Wireless' delayed billing practices resulted in excess billing to Digital One Rate customers, says spokeswoman Jayme Otto of Class Action Administration Inc., the class administrator. The Digital One Rate plan gives customers a set number of monthly airtime minutes, including roaming and long distance. AT&T Wireless accounts for roaming calls made or received on another carrier's network when the calls are reported, not necessarily in the month they were made. Customers were billed according to this practice known as off-cycle billing. The suit is seeking recovery of the alleged over-billed charges through settlement or trial, says Otto.

AT&T Wireless feels confident about the outcome of the case. "We think we are in the right here. We have a strong case. Off-cycle billing for roaming is a common industry practice born of necessity," says AT&T Wireless spokeswoman Rochelle Cohen. "We make it clear to our customers that when they roam on another carrier's network, they may be billed for the call in a subsequent month, which is due to the time it takes for reporting between carriers," she says.

Digital One Rate customers who signed up for the service before March 1, 1999, and remained a subscriber until at least Dec. 23, 1999, are automatically part of the class.

More than 600,000 customers are automatically part of the class. If any of those subscribers wish not to participate in the suit, they must act before Oct. 13, according to Otto. Persons looking to be excluded from the case can visit www.dorplanclassaction.com before the deadline date.

The trial is set for April 19, 2004.

[BSJ723]

Anyone know how much ATT Wireless is being sued for?

[Codepyro]

nope sorry...i know that they recently payed 47.5 million dollars in the telecorp lawsuit ...

[AnthroMatt]

I don't understand this lawsuit. Every company does this and as far as I know every company makes it clear, if you actually read your ToS, that roaming usage is billed as it is reported, not necessarily during the month in which the call was made.

[AgentSmith]

I don't either. And it is in the fine print...roaming charges may not be charged during the month you roam, but when those calls are reported by the roaming carrier.

What is the actual lawsuit consisting of? Misleading a customer or something? In the terms of agreements as well that every customer signs I think also there is a legal right to waive your right to sue, and have everything settled by arbitration......correct me if I'm wrong but I've read it on the back of Verizon's TOS, as well as Nextel's, and T-Mobile's too I think...

[KevinJames]

Can you say "frivolous"

Lawyers are also busy sueing the airline industry for the 9/11 event. As if they weren't "victims" as well, now they are being victimized by seedy lawyers--the only ones that ever get rich with these suits.

[Texas]

Codepyro............. Can you fill me in on the lawsuit AWS was involved in concerning Telecorp? Who, what, when, etc...

Thanks in advance. Forrest