Insight Customers Can Pursue Class Action

A Kentucky Supreme Court ruling is allowing Insight customers who lost internet service during a 2006 upgrade to pursue claims through a class action lawsuit. The high court ruling overturns two lower courts that said customers must pursue their claims individually because they were bound by a clause in their contracts with Insight that forbids customers from banding together to pursue legal claims.

The Kentucky Supreme court agreed with Insight customers that argued a class action lawsuit is the only practical way for a large number of customers to pursue claims that will probably be far too little to justify hiring a lawyer.

According to the court opinion, a class action “is often the only economically viable legal procedure” to address a large volume of very small claims, which, in this case, is expected to average around $40 per claimant. For that reason, the court said, a ban on class actions like the one in Insight’s contract “may effectively shield a company from liability for unlawful activity.”

Insight customers sued the cable company after they lost up to several days of internet service and emails when Insight switched from an AT&T network to its own system in 2006. Nearly a third of Insight’s 500,000 internet customers in four states reported “significant’ disruptions during the changeover. Insight gave nearly 2,600 customers credits for the lost internet time, but customers argue that the credits were not sufficient.

Public Justice, a national public-interest legal organization that argued for Insight customers in the case, said the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision could pave the way for consumers to pursue class actions against other corporations.

The Insight lawsuit has been sent back to Jefferson Circuit Court, where Insight customers are now eligible to bring their claims as a group in a class action lawsuit.