$25m Global Tel Link Settlement Reached for Inmates

Global Tel Link Corp. has agreed to pay $25 million to settle class action claims that it overcharged inmates for phone calling services.

Under the terms of the agreement, the prison phone company will reimburse current customers in account credits and will pay former customers in cash payments. The maximum amount allowed is $5,000 per customer, according to the motion for preliminary approval.

U.S. District Judge William J. Martini certified a national Class of inmates in August 2018 who claimed that Global Tel Link overcharged them up to 100 times the market rate for phone calls and did not disclose administrative cost charges.

Judge Martini agreed to certify the Class of thousands of prisoners who were incarcerated between 2006 and 2016 who used the Global Tel Link phone system.

The original Global Tel Link rates class action lawsuit was filed in 2013 by plaintiffs Bobbie James, Crystal Gibson, Betty King, Barbara Skladany, Mark Skladany, Milan Skladany, and Dr. John F. Crow.

They say that the defendant abused their monopoly power over phone calls made by New Jersey prisoners to charge them higher than market rate prices to make phone calls.

In addition, the Global Tel Link rates class action lawsuit said that the defendant required those who were getting collect calls from prisoners to make substantial advance payments to the defendant from which charges of as much as 20% were siphoned off at opening and again at closing as administrative costs.

Also, the plaintiffs accused the defendant of forfeiting balances in accounts if the account was not used for 90 days and then charging the plaintiffs $25, $50 or $100 to reopen the accounts.

“Defendants’ wrongful conduct involves relatively small amounts of damages for each class member and Defendants are carrying out a scheme to deliberately cheat large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money,” the Global Tel Link rates class action lawsuit goes on to say.

The plaintiffs maintain that the defendant has the sole right to provide telecommunications services which enable incarcerated individuals to communicate by telephone with family members, friends, and other persons outside certain New Jersey state prison facilities.

Because of their exclusive provider position, the defendants are able to exploit customers by charging them excessive rates for calls, fees and connection charges, without any regard as to what other telecommunications companies are charging in the marketplace, according to the Global Tel Link rates class action lawsuit.

Bobbie James and her fellow plaintiffs state that the defendants charge the prisoners 30 cents per minute for phone calls when the going rate is approximately one to two cents per minute.

When an account is set up with the defendants, customers are not provided with a written contract nor are they advised of any terms and conditions applicable to their account, the plaintiffs maintain.

In addition, the plaintiffs claim that the defendants do not issue account statements in writing or electronically to customers.

The Global Tel Link inmate class action lawsuit says that customers are given a voice prompt telling them how much money is left on the account, but a customer is not provided with an itemized statement of charges, nor can customers ascertain how many minutes of calling time they have left because the defendant does not disclose rates and applicable charges.

“Defendants fail to inform their customers that they will be charged a service or set-up fee which will be deducted from their advance pay balance, when an account is first established,” the Global Tel Link inmate class action lawsuit asserts.

The plaintiffs also argue that that Global Tel Link charges an exorbitant service fee of approximately 20% of the deposit, which is  $4.75 out of the first $25 deposit, $9.50 out of the first $50 deposit, and $19 out of the first $100 deposit, when an account is first set up.

In addition, Global Tel Link reportedly charges a $5 fee in order to close an account and obtain a refund for any remaining balance.

The plaintiffs say that they are not informed of this charge when they initially set up the account.

Class Members in the Global Tel Link rates class action lawsuit include: “all persons of the United States who, at any time since 2002 were incarcerated in a New Jersey prison institution who use or used the phone system provided by Defendants or, who established an advance pay account with Defendants in order to receive telephone calls from a person incarcerated in New Jersey.”

Have you used Global Tel Link to communicate with those who are incarcerated? Leave a message in the comments section below.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The plaintiff is represented by James E. Cecchi of Carella Byrne Cecchi Olstein Brody & Agnello PC.

The Global Tel Link Inmate Class Action Lawsuit is Bobby James, et al. v. Global Tel Link Corp., et al., Case No. 2:13-cv-04989, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

UPDATE: August 2020, the Global Tel Link class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

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