US Premium Rate Swindle: Court orders $63m Refund

[El Gringo]

http://www.reuters.com/article/techn...5AA04620091111
Chicago court OKs $10 refunds for ringtones, games
Nov 10, 2009

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A settlement between mobile phone users and companies that charged them for downloaded ringtones and games they thought were free was approved by a court on Tuesday.

Each approved claimant will have the option to receive either a cash award or a refund of $10, out of a total settlement fund capped at as much as $63 million, according to court documents.

The settlement, approved by Judge Sophia Hall of Cook County Chancery Court in Chicago, settles some 30 class-action lawsuits over the improperly charged downloads.

Claim forms and other information on the case can be found at www.mobilecontentsettlement.com/index.html.

The three representatives for the plaintiffs -- Susan Paluzzi, Grace Picicci and Patricia Vernon -- will share a $35,000 award, and attorneys could end up with $11.4 million, according to court documents.

The defendants contributing to the settlement include Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Sony Pictures subsidiary 2WayTraffic Mobile USA Inc, MBlox Inc, CellCo Partnership, Emexus Americas Inc, Dada USA Inc, Dada Mobile Inc, Dada Entertainment LLC, Lavalife LLC, Mobile Entertainment Inc, Playphone Inc, SendMe Inc, SJA Mobile LLC, Dada S.p.A subsidiary UPOC Networks, UPOC Inc, and W31 Mobile LLC.

The court case in Cook County is 07-CH-37213. A related Fulton County, Georgia, case is McFerren v AT&T Mobility LLC, 2008-CV-151322.

a few bad apples or an industry out of control ? or may be an 'industry' that's successfully lobbied themselves into self regulating control.

[El Gringo]

http://www.strategyeye.com/articles/...ia/id/23262223
are paying USD63m to settle......

Those eligible have the option of receiving a USD10 payment or a refund for up to three months of charges.

so how many consumers does the court appear to believe were affected.

these unauthorised charges are usually $9.99 per month

from
63,000,000/29.97 ~ 2,100,000 'consumers'

to
63,000,000/10 = 6,300,000 'consumers'


may be not correct but it puts the decimal point....millions swindled

[El Gringo]

more names on page 10
http://www.mobilecontentsettlement.c...SignedStip.pdf

http://www.mobilecontentsettlement.c...documents.html

http://www.mobilecontentsettlement.com/faq.html#Q12
1. What is the lawsuit about?

The Plaintiffs in this lawsuit are alleging claims for damages stemming from alleged unauthorized sales and billing for Mobile Content, such as ringtones, news and information alerts, horoscopes, and other digital electronic media, to wireless telephone subscribers.

Cellco Partnership, mBlox, Inc., and the Additional Defendants have explicitly denied the Plaintiffs’ claims. The Court has not decided in favor of the Plaintiffs or the Defendants. Instead, both sides agreed to enter into negotiations, and the parties reached this settlement with the help of a neutral mediator. This settlement is not to be construed as an admission or concession of liability by Cellco Partnership, mBlox, Inc., or any of the Additional Defendants or Included Parties. Given the expense and duration of any trial and/or appeal and the uncertain outcome and risks of litigation, the Plaintiffs and Class Counsel have concluded that this settlement is fair and reasonable, and is in the best interests of the class.

The settlement has been preliminarily approved by a court in Chicago, Illinois. No payments or awards have been made at this time. The sole purpose of this website is to inform you of the settlement and inform you of your options.

it's about lawyers on both sides getting their money and the companies involved getting 'off light'

[El Gringo]

http://moconews.net/article/419-mblo...ntent-lawsuit/
Members of the settlement class include any person in the U.S. and its territories who, at any time prior to October 10, 2009, was billed and paid for unauthorized content from any of the defendants.

People can find out if they’re eligible by scanning past phone records for short codes (pdf) that identify the various mobile content companies.
https://roscomps3.securesites.net/ww...ShortCodes.pdf

six pages and five pages all belong to mblox

[El Gringo]

http://www.prnewschannel.com/absolut...es/?z=0&a=1899
KamberEdelson LLC Announces Mobile Content Class Action Settlement With m-Qube, Inc.
November 20th 2009

The defendant, m-Qube, Inc., has denied any wrongful conduct.

but has agreed to refund $12.5m

also many cases pending
http://www.mqubesettlement.com/pdfs/MQM_Stipulation.pdf

Orban v Opera Telecom