Cox Faces Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Hidden Fees

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A proposed Cox class action lawsuit that accuses the cable company of intentionally hiding fees by mislabeling them in a confusing way in order to charge more for certain television services has been moved to a California federal court.

Plaintiffs Matti Yousif, Elizabeth Ioane, Zach Beimes, Dawn Harrell brought the hidden cable fees class action lawsuit against CoxCom LLC and Cox Communications California LLC after noticing that there were added “Advanced TV” fees in addition to recurring fees and applicable discounts.

The plaintiffs allege that despite marketing materials that advertised that the price of Advanced TV was all-inclusive (except for government-mandated applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges), Cox added unauthorized charges for the television cable service without the knowledge or consent of its customers.

The Cox hidden fee class action lawsuit claims the company committed these acts “with the intent to induce members of the public to purchase its products.” The plaintiffs claim that thousands of Cox customers relied on their false advertising campaign and lost money because of it.

The plaintiffs live in three different states and if the Cox class action lawsuit is approved, Cox customers in Arizona, California and Nevada who paid additional fees under “Advanced TV” within the last four years may qualify to join as Class Members. There are more than 400,000 Cox subscribers living in those states that subscribed to Advanced TV, according to the Cox hidden fees class action lawsuit.

However, the wording of the Cox class action lawsuit is unclear just how much money the class action would seek. The plaintiffs allege they lost $50 in hidden fees, but it is uncertain whether that is a collective amount between the four plaintiffs or an individual amount. If it was a collective amount, Cox could be facing a $5 million class action lawsuit. If it was an individual amount, the cable company may be facing a $20 million complaint based on the 400,000 Advanced TV subscribers.

Due to the substantial financial implications along with the fact that at least one plaintiff lives in a different state than the defendant, the proposed class action lawsuit was recommended to be moved to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Plaintiffs Yousif and Ioane, who are California residents, are suing Cox for unlawful business acts, false advertising and violations of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act. The Cox class action lawsuit states that the defendant violated the act by making representations and advertisements concerning the pricing of Advanced TV “when it knew, or should have known, that the representations and advertisements were false, deceptive and misleading.”

Plaintiff Beimes of Nevada is alleging Cox violated Nevada’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and plaintiff Harrell of Arizona is alleging the cable company is in violation of Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act.

The plaintiffs are represented by Derrick F. Coleman and R. Jeffrey Neer of Coleman Frost LLP.

The Cox Hidden Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Yousif, et al. v. Coxcom LLC, et al., Case No. 3:15-cv-01499, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

UPDATE: On Mar. 21, 2016, a federal judge agreed to send the hidden fee class action lawsuit to arbitration.