Comcast Class Action: Co. Illegally Withdraws Funds from Bank Accounts

Comcast Corp. and Comcast Cable Communications LLC have been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing them of illegally accessing bank accounts and withdrawing funds after a customer’s service has been terminated and when the former customer has not owed Comcast any unpaid charges.

Plaintiff Keven Danow, as the trustee of the Morris Hitzig Revocable Living Trust, filed the Comcast class action lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court. He accuses Comcast of violating the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and the consumer protection laws of several states. He also asserts claims for unjust enrichment and restitution.

Danow alleges that Comcast engaged in unfair conduct including over-billing, misrepresenting the basis of charges, and assessing “phantom charges” on its customers. He claims that these charges are illegally imposed on Comcast customers.

According to the Comcast class action lawsuit, these illegal charges and other business practices have prompted thousands of complaints. However, Danow claims that Comcast customers “often find it impossible to get any satisfaction.”

Comcast customers have reportedly complained about the company’s failure to honor advertised deals, cancelling customers’ service without their knowledge and failing to reinstate them, switching customers to higher-priced services without their consent, and charging for bogus service calls and refusing to delete the charges.

Danow points to a number of recent legal actions aimed at Comcast, including a $100 million lawsuit filed by the Washington State Attorney General in August 2016, a class action lawsuit filed in California, and a Federal Communications Commission finding in October 2016 that Comcast had violated FCC rules with regard to its business practices.

“Having engaged in deceptive and unfair trade practices as a core component of its business, Comcast has now targeted former customers, who no longer have any business relationship with Comcast,” the Comcast billing class action lawsuit states. “Comcast has illegally accessed former customers’ bank accounts months or years after the end of any business relationship between the parties and absconded with funds on deposit.”

Danow says his step-father was a Comcast customer who died in 2014. Shortly after his death, his Comcast account was cancelled. In 2016, Comcast reportedly began to make recurring automatic fund withdrawals from the account that had been used to pay the Comcast bills. Danow says that these withdrawals were made even though the business relationship had ended year earlier and the decedent did not owe Comcast any legitimate charges.

According to the Comcast class action lawsuit, Danow complained about the charges but Comcast has refused to address his grievances or return the money they allegedly illegally withdrew from the decedent’s account.

By filing the Comcast billing class action lawsuit, Danow seeks to represent a Class of former Comcast customers whose bank accounts have been accessed by Comcast and who were charged fees even though the customer had no outstanding balance owed to Comcast.

Danow is seeking compensatory damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, disgorgement, attorneys’ and costs, and other relief deemed proper by the court.

Danow is represented by Richard A. Maniskas and Katharine M. Ryan of Ryan & Maniskas LLP, Laurence D. Paskowitz of The Paskowitz Law Firm PC, and Roy L. Jacobs of Roy Jacobs & Associates.

The Comcast Illegal Charges Class Action Lawsuit is Keven Danow, as the Trustee of the Morris Hitzig Revocable Living Trust v. Comcast Corp., et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-06052, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: On May 9, 2017, Danow filed a motion for summary judgment against Comcast arguing that the evidence revealed during discovery proves without question that Comcast has been stealing money from a trust he inherited.