Consumers' right to file class actions is in danger

[blu]

Consumers' right to file class actions is in danger - Los Angeles Times

It hasn't gotten a lot of press, but a case involving AT&T that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court next week has sweeping ramifications for potentially millions of consumers.

If a majority of the nine justices vote the telecom giant's way, any business that issues a contract to customers — such as for credit cards, cellphones or cable TV — would be able to prevent them from joining class-action lawsuits.
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This would take away in such cases arguably the most powerful legal tool available to the little guy, particularly in cases involving relatively small amounts of money. Class-action suits allow plaintiffs to band together in seeking compensation or redress, thus giving substantially more heft to their claims.

I don't have much of an opinion on this except that if AT&T is bringing it about it will probably screw customers over. I do know that many frivolous cases are filed, but that some good ones in the past have been filed and that companies engaging in shady behavior were forced to pay up

 

[Granny]

From LA newspaper article.

"Vincent and Liza Concepcion sued AT&T in 2006 after signing up for wireless service that they'd been told included free cellphones. The Concepcions alleged that they and other Californians had been defrauded by the company because the phones actually came with various charges."

They must not understand the "free phone" business. The phones generally are free either through an up-front offer, upgrades or rebates. The "extra fees" are probably connection fees, service fees, overage charages, etc. The PHONE itself was still free.

I can't believe the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in the first place.