U.S. Appeals Court Allows Lawsuit Against Cingular

If you were unfairly treated by Cingular (now owned by AT&T) when Cingular purchased AT&T wireless in 2004 because you were told a chip was needed to improve your cell phone service; which required you signing a contract with Cinuglar to get the chip, well you will may be able to join a class action lawsuit against the company.
The U.S. Appeals Court on Friday reversed a lower court decision to allow going ahead with the class action suit. The lawsuit was initially filed by Kennith Shroyer, complaining that Cingular dealt poorly with customers after it bought AT&T Wireless in 2004. Cingular told AT&T customers that they would not be able to keep the same rates if they didn't comply.

After Kennith Shroyer's complaint, Judge Manuel Real ruled at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in favor of Cingular's argument that the case was outside that court's jurisdiction and should instead go to arbitration, due to a clause in Cingular customer contracts that barred customers from pursuing legal claims against it in Court.

However, the Appeals Court reversed the ruling in a document published on Friday saying that the district court should consider the case because the clause was unenforceable. AT&T said it was still reviewing the opinion but noted that the case was based on an old arbitration clause and that it has since changed its terms to make them more customer friendly.

U.S. Appeals Court Allows Lawsuit Against Cingular

Post a comment