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A Georgia federal judge recently issued several orders in an inmate phone calls class action lawsuit, certifying a Class and granting sanctions against Global Tel Link (GTL) Corp.
On Nov. 30, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg granted a motion for sanctions from plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs had argued that Global Tel Link obscured and withheld important information during discovery.
Specifically, the company reportedly represented that the automated voice “script” heard by the plaintiffs and other consumers stated that “balances that remain unused may expire after 90 days.” However, this was allegedly false as Global Tel Link removed this statement in January 2014.
Judge Totenberg agreed with the plaintiffs’ request for sanctions, finding that Global Tel Link’s misrepresentations caused four years of problems and delays in the case.
“GTL’s litigation strategy resulted in significant delays and detours in reaching the merits of this case. GTL’s conduct, in short, effectively caused the case to go off the rails,” Judge Totenberg wrote in the sanctions order. “Defendant’s conduct resulted in significant litigation harm and forced plaintiffs’ counsel to engage in major legal work that would have been obviated but for GTL’s course of gamesmanship.”
The Court’s recent sanctions prevent Global Tel Link from using the argument that plaintiffs and Class Members heard a disclaimer about the inactivity policy through the automated phone call or other avenues including GTL’s website. Additionally, this policy cannot be used to argue against Class certification.
“GTL’s woefully incomplete production, false testimony and misleading interrogatory responses have affected the integrity of the legal process,” Judge Totenberg concluded.
“If GTL were able to escape any real consequences for its obfuscating course of discovery and litigation posturing, the discovery and judicial process would be stripped of all integrity and functionality.”
In addition to granting sanctions, Judge Totenberg has certified a Class of similarly situated Class Members who used GTL’s automated system to call people incarcerated in Georgia or South Carolina and had their prepaid accounts reduced to zero after April 2011.
The court has also required the Georgia plaintiffs to resume settlement mediation with Global Tel Link.
Plaintiffs Benson Githieya, Nellie Lockett, and Darlene Byers claim that Global Tel Link took advantage of friends and family members of inmates who created prepaid AdvancePay accounts with the company. These accounts allow consumers to place inmate phone calls with their incarcerated loved ones.
Unfortunately, after 90 days of inactivity, Global Tel Link allegedly reduces any remaining balance in the account to zero. According to the plaintiff, the company effectively pockets this cash for themselves.
The plaintiffs contend that this practice was widespread. According to court estimates, each month GTL reduced between 150,000 and 200,000 accounts with an average account balance of $6.63. By closing out more than 20% of their active accounts, documents show that the company has been able to rake in serious profits. These small dollar amounts reportedly resulted in $110 million in revenue between 2009 and mid 2017.
In her sanctions order, Judge Totenberg characterized these actions as the “financial engine for the company.”
This conduct allegedly caused financial harm to the plaintiffs and other consumers. Byers reportedly opened an AdvancePay account in 2011 so that she could speak to her incarcerated son. After calling the Global Tel Link automated phone number, Byers says she deposited money into her account.
However, months later, Byers claims that her account was classified as “inactive.” As a result, her remaining $1.42 balance was reportedly reduced to zero. Unfortunately, Byers says that she was unaware of this policy and continued to deposit money into the account which was classified as inactive four times by GTL over the course of several years. As a result, Byers has allegedly lost $10.47 to GTL’s conduct.
Lockett and Githieya have reportedly experienced similar conduct after opening their AdvancePay accounts in 2011 and 2014, respectively.
According to the plaintiffs, they were never warned by Global Tel Link that their account could be zeroed out due to inactivity. As a result, the plaintiffs accuse GTL of breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violation of the Federal Communications Act.
Did you have an account with Global Tel Link? Have you received inmate phone calls? Share your experiences in the comment section below.
Plaintiffs and the certified Class are represented by Michael A. Caplan, James W. Cobb and T. Brandon Waddell of Caplan Cobb LLP, James Radford of Radford & Keebaugh LLC, and Andrew R. Lynch.
The Inmate Phone Calls Class Action Lawsuit is Githieya, et al. v. Global Tel Link Corporation, Case No. 1:15-cv-00986, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
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144 thoughts onGlobal Tel Link Inmate Phone Calls Class Action Lawsuit Certified
I have had money mysteriously disappear from my Account multiple times and was always told I was mistaken. I knew the call length didn’t add up to the amounts taken.
I received something in the mail that said they owed me money and were gonna settling this huge lawsuit and my name was on the list of people that was owed money in the lawsuit.. so I filled out the form and sent it in… I have never received any compensation..
I still have all of my chores for everything I didn’t I also have a beach of information where my email, phone number, etc were compromised and leaked what do I do about this?
I have no idea how many times they took my money. But I know for a fact, I was frequently sitting there doing the math of how much the phone call SHOULD have cost – based on the price per minute that was stated in the automated messaged. For example, in/around the year 2020, the rate per minute was told to be 21 cents (at least that’s what it was in my county while I was using these services). A half hour call would’ve been $6.30. But after the call ended, $7-9 would be gone from my account. At first, I assumed my math must’ve been off but, after checking the rates, length of phone calls, then remaining balance there was no debate they were taking an extra $1 or 2. I then decided there must’ve been some hidden fees that I’m obligated to spend as an inmate and I just didn’t know about it. I knew it didn’t seem “right” but, as an inmate, you wouldn’t assume they’re blatantly stealing from you. You also kind of don’t feel like you have a lot of basic human rights anyways. I did not realize they had been stealing until reading this. This kind of broke my heart to hear. Very sick they would take from people like this.
GTL and Securus are both scams! They will steal every dollar from you that they can!