AT&T Roaming Fees Class Action Lawsuit Granted Class Certification

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A federal judge in California has certified some of the consumers in an AT&T roaming class action lawsuit.

The AT&T roaming class action lawsuit plaintiffs allege that they were misled regarding the company’s choice to charge roaming fees overseas.

The primary certification issue in the AT&T roaming class action lawsuit has to do with the consumers who received information about roaming fees from different sources.

The judge determined that while they had learned about roaming fees in different places and from various sources that their claims could still be heard as a group.

The plaintiffs in the AT&T roaming class action lawsuit say that they were charged for phone calls received but never answered while abroad.

The ruling says that one of the sources of information about roaming fees came from customer service representatives who were not given a script regarding the company’s policy.

The judge says that the key issue binding together the plaintiffs in the AT&T roaming fees class action lawsuit was whether or not the rate plan brochures and the terms of service were likely to deceive members of the public when considering all other details out there about the roaming charges.

The judge says that the information put forth by AT&T in the terms of service and marketing brochures would be considered the official policy of the cellular carrier in terms of how they charged for use of the phone in other countries.

Lead plaintiff Steven McArdle initiated the AT&T roaming class action lawsuit in 2009 after he was allegedly charged with internal roaming fees for unanswered calls received while traveling through Italy in 2008.

The plaintiff says he was shocked to find the charges for international roaming on his phone bill because he had reviewed his policy prior to leaving the U.S.

In his AT&T roaming fees class action lawsuit, he intended to have two Classes certified: California residents who were charged international roaming fees between Feb. 2005 and Jan. 2009 for incoming unanswered calls and a waiver Class of California residents who had AT&T wireless service after May 29, 2005.

AT&T had argued against the latest certification bid in the lawsuit by claiming that the lead plaintiff should have known to turn off his phone so as not to add charges to his bill. The cellular carrier purports that their rate plan brochures back up these roaming charges.

The waiver Class was not certified by the judge, but the bid to have a roaming Class certified for California residents was approved.

The judge said that the lead plaintiff had not been able to show that this claims applied to all Class Members since AT&T had only attempted to use the contracted arbitration clause against him and a few other consumers.

McArdle is represented by Adam J. Gutride and Seth Safier of Gutride Safier LLP.

The AT&T Roaming Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Steven McArdle v. AT&T Mobility LLC, et al., Case No. 4:09-cv-01117, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.