$15.5M Comcast Set-Top Box Class Action Settlement Denied

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On Thursday, a judge denied a proposed settlement that was part of a multidistrict litigation against Comcast Corp. The proposed settlement agreement indicated that Comcast would pay $15.5 million to resolve claims that the company forced customers who purchased Premium Cable subscriptions to rent set-top boxes.

The settlement was reportedly denied after U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody ruled that the plaintiffs did not come up with an effective, reliable way to determine who would be member of the potential Class if a member was not a current Comcast customer.

The problem of determining the former customer Class membership exists because Comcast has said they do not have any records for customers during 2005 to 2010.

While the subscribers did outline several ways to determine who the former Comcast subscribers were, they relied on sworn statements from potential Class Members. A former ruling regarding Class certification “cautioned against approving a method that would amount to no more than ascertaining by potential class members’ say so.”

In addition to relying on sworn statements to ascertain class membership, Judge Brody also asserted, “Plaintiffs do not submit any methodology for screening out unreliable sworn statements and they certainly do not ‘submit a screening model specific to this case and prove how the model will be reliable.’”

Judge Brody continues: “Although plaintiffs state that Comcast may challenge membership in the settlement class, their lack of a screening model leaves them unable to explain how these challenges would actually work.”

Judge Brody stated that the Settlement Class was not ascertainable due to the plaintiffs’ lack of reliably determining membership of the Class and denied certification of the Settlement Class. She also denied the Settlement Agreement “due to the absence of a certifiable class.”

In 2008, Comcast customers began filing lawsuits against the cable provider alleging that the company illegally tied the sale of Premium Cable to the rental of a set-top box. The following year, 24 lawsuits were consolidated into an MDL by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation under federal Judge Brody in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In 2011, the plaintiffs filed a third amended complaint alleging that Comcast’s tying of their Premium Cable package to the mandatory set-top box rental was in violation of the Sherman Act, the antitrust and consumer protection laws of Washington, and the Business & Professions Code of California. A separate class action lawsuit also alleged that Comcast was in violation of West Virginia state law.

In a similar lawsuit, an Oklahoma federal jury recently found Cox Communications Inc. cable company in violation of antitrust laws when the company tied premium cable services to mandatory set-top box rentals. The jury awarded cable customers $6.3 million in damages, but that number may increase to nearly $19 million.

The MDL plaintiffs are represented by lead counsel Dianne M. Nast and Erin C. Burns of NastLaw LLC. Stephen A. Corr of Stark and Stark is acting as liaison counsel. The plaintiffs’ steering committee includes Wexler Wallace LLP, WhatleyKallas LLP, Bailey & Glasser LLP, Sweetnam LLC, Devereux Murphy LLC, The Bell Law Firm PLLC, Foote Meyers Mielke & Flowers LLC, Edgar Law Firm LLC, Fodera & Long, Gustafson Gluek PLLC, Becnel Law Firm, Macuga Liddle & Dubin PC and Wiggins Childs Pantazis Fisher & Goldfarb LLC.

The Comcast Set-Top Box Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Comcast Corp. Set-Top Cable Television Box Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 2:09-md-02034, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: On April 27, 2016, Comcast asked the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court’s decision to reject a $15.5 million set-top box class action settlement, arguing that the Pennsylvania federal court used the incorrect Class certification standard.

UPDATE 2: On Sept. 5, 2018, a federal judge preliminarily approved the fourth amended version of the Comcast set-top box class action lawsuit settlement. The judge noted, however, that the notice proposed needs to be further modified to cure some deficiencies.

UPDATE 3: March 2019, the Comcast set-top box rental fees class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim. 

UPDATE 4: On Sept. 24, 2019, the $15.5 million Comcast set-top box class action settlement was granted final approval by a federal judge.