Comcast $50M Antitrust Settlement Appeal Filed by Class Member

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Last month, U.S. District judge John R. Padova issued final approval for the Philadelphia Comcast antitrust class action lawsuit settlement on September 22. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, an appeal was reportedly filed against the final approval by a member of the Class.

Class Member Mark Rhoades filed the appeal due to his concern that the Class will not receive adequate compensation based on the terms of the Comcast class action settlement. Rhoades initially voiced his objection in June before the final approval was issued and believes his concerns are still valid.

Rhoades asserted in his objection that there will not be enough funds from the Comcast settlement to issue Class Members cash and service credits. Judge Padova found Rhoades’ claims to be factually untrue on his previous objection and proceeded with the litigation despite his objection.

Comcast’s plan is to provide service credits to Class Members who are current customers in the Philadelphia area and will distribute cash to former customers, but Rhoades does not feel enough money will be left to do so. He also asserted that the receipt of service credits by current members may no even be used or appreciated, and if there are insufficient funds, the amount could be diminished.

Rhoades believes that, at the very minimum, the agreement should be changed to guarantee that former customers receive their cash payments first before current customers are taken care of.

The terms of the class action settlement state that Comcast will issue $33.3 million in credits to current customers, and will use the remaining $16.7 million for cash payments, attorneys’ fees and costs. Another $6.4 million was allocated for legal fees, and $8.6 million to pay economic expert witnesses and to address other costs.

The original complaint claimed that Comcast had an illegal monopoly on services in Philadelphia. In 2010, the class action lawsuit was appealed by Comcast in the U.S. Supreme Court and the class action certification was found to be inappropriate.

In 2013, the plaintiffs were allowed to revise the class action lawsuit and it was amended to only include a Class of Philadelphia residents which was then approved.

In October 2014, the lead plaintiff in the Comcast class action lawsuit asked Judge Padova to preliminarily approve the $50 million settlement.

The settlement was approved, and Class Members who were subscribers of Comcast services beyond basic cable in certain Pennsylvania counties between Jan. 1, 2003 to Dec. 31, 2008 were eligible to file a claim by July 10, 2015. Final approval for the Comcast class action settlement was issued last month.

Under the terms of the Comcast settlement, Class Members were eligible to receive a one-time bill credit for $15, credits for 6 pay-per-view movies valued at $35.94, 4 months of upgraded Internet service valued at $38-40, or a 2 month subscription to The Movie Channel valued at $43.90. Current subscribers who did not indicate a choice were given The Movie Channel subscription by default. Former customers were eligible to receive a $15 cash payment.

After 12 long years of litigation since the original 2003 filing, the judge will need to respond to this recent objection before the Comcast class action lawsuit can be fully resolved.

The plaintiffs are represented by Barry Barnett and LeElle Krompass of Susman Godfrey LLP, Vincent J. Esades, David Woodward and Jessica N. Servais of Heins Mills & Olson PLC, and Joseph Goldberg of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward PA.

The Comcast Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is Stanford Glaberson, et al. v. Comcast Corp., Case No. 2:03-cv-06604, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: On Feb. 23, 2016, according to our readers, Class Members who submitted timely and valid claims for the Comcast settlement began receiving checks worth as much as $15.