Godoy v AT&T Wireless Services, Inc.
National Class Action Targets AT&T Wireless for Billing Violations
A national class action has been filed in Washington against wireless provider giant, AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. The action is brought on behalf of all U.S. customers of AT&T Wireless who were charged alleged unauthorized billing penalties as a result of terminating their AT&T Wireless contract. The action is brought under federal law communications law and state contract law and seeks restitution, compensatory and statutory damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief.
According to consumers, AT&T Wireless has engaged in an alleged practice of billing consumers beyond that date of contract termination. The consumers allege that under the terms of their contract, all billing is supposed to be pro-rated per the amount of time service is provided. The consumers assert that AT&T has observed this practice upon signup, only billing customers for the portion of the month they have used the services since activation, but that AT&T has not honored their contract upon termination. The consumers allege that in some circumstances they have been billed by AT&T for more than a month after they terminated their contracts and were no longer receiving services. The consumers claim that AT&T has imposed this extra billing as an unauthorized penalty, while AT&T claims that they have unilaterally changed the terms of their service contracts to allow for extended billing beyond termination. While AT&T claims these charges are authorized, the consumers assert that these charges were not included in their original service contracts and that they never received any updated contract information from AT&T. Furthermore, the consumers allege that AT&T's actions are often the result of delayed changeovers. In many instances, customers allege that they have switched from AT&T to other providers and that AT&T has delayed the transfer of their telephone numbers to their new service. This delay has, in many circumstances, allegedly resulted in the consumers being charged for an additional billing cycle due to AT&T's alleged actions. According to consumers, over half of the alleged hundreds of thousands of complaints lodged with the FCC regarding delayed number transfers have been filed against AT&T. The consumers claim that AT&T's conduct has violated federal communications law as well as state contact law. The consumers further allege that the proposed class in this case is composed of, at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents and possibly millions.
