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Update:
- DirecTV asked a West Virginia federal judge to deny class certification in a lawsuit that claims the company spams customers with unwanted marketing calls.
- DirecTV claims it was not prohibited from calling the named plaintiffs and that the scope of the proposed class is indeterminable, according to Law360.
- The company says it is impossible to determine whether each alleged call is similar enough to qualify for a potential class.
- In February 2021, West Virginia District Judge John Preston Bailey ruled that DirecTV could not settle the claims outside of court through arbitration.
(Feb. 15, 2021)
DirecTV cannot settle claims it spams customers with unwanted marketing calls through arbitration, a district judge has ruled for the second time.
The latest opinion, filed by West Virginia District Judge John Preston Bailey Friday, calls DirecTV’s move to settle a class action lawsuit’s claims outside of court “unconscionable” and “absurd.”
The lead plaintiff, Diana Mey, has been fighting DirecTV since 2017 over alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Mey reports getting marketing calls promoting DirecTV packages after signing up for an AT&T wireless plan in 2012, despite being on the Do Not Call Registry.
Mey never signed up for DirecTV or agreed to do any business with the company but her contact information was used anyway, according to the class action.
In her initial complaint, Mey argued this happened after AT&T acquired DirecTV in a $49 billion deal. DirecTV says Mey and other customers agreed to settle disputes through an arbitration clause written in wireless contract fine print.
Mey isn’t alone in her claims. A separate class action filed in West Virginia District Court has similar claims the DirecTV/AT&T merger had customer service agents pushing for unwanted satellite TV services.
In that case, DirecTV was allegedly partnering with two telemarketing companies and using automatic dialing systems to reach unsuspecting customers.
In Mey’s class action lawsuit, West Virginia District Court first denied DirecTV’s motion to compel arbitration. DirecTV appealed, escalating the case to the Fourth Circuit, which ruled to send the matter back to federal court in West Virginia.
The higher court needed more detail on the “unconscionability” finding, Judge Bailey said in his order denying arbitration.
“Arbitration is, foundationally, ‘a matter of consent,’ … and we may not foist arbitration on a party who has not agreed to it under cover of a presumption,” he said.
He added Mey and other reasonable AT&T customers would never agree to something written so broadly, covering all of a corporation’s subsidiaries.
The clause “overbroad, absurd and unconscionable, and far exceeds anything contemplated by Congress.”
Top Class Action is tracking class action lawsuits involving claims of unwanted marketing calls. These claims could be found in violation of federal law. See if you qualify.
Do you have an AT&T mobile plan or DirecTV? Have you received unwanted marketing calls regarding these services? Let us know in the comments below.
Counsel representing the plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit are John W. Barrett, Jonathan R. Marshall, Sharon F. Iskra, Benjamin Hogan of Bailey & Glasser LLP; Anthony Paronich of Paronich Law PC, Edward A. Broderick of Broderick Law PC, Matthew P. McCue of The Law Office Of Matthew P. McCue, and Ryan McCune Donovan of Hissam Forman Donovan Ritchie PLCC.
The DirectTV AT&T Arbitration Class Action Lawsuit is Mey, et al. v. DirecTV, LLC, Case No. 5:17-cv-00179, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
37 thoughts onDirectTV asks to deny class certification in robocall suit
Despite never being a customer of I AT&T or DIRECTV I have been receiving these calls for a year or more. I have been on the do not call registry since May 14, 2019 and still continue to receive these calls. I have close to 20 voicemails saved from AT&T DIRECTV. I would like to participate in a class action lawsuit against this company.
I have been disgusted with my experience with DirecTV. I’ve been charged repeatedly for service that I’ve cancelled. I’ve been charged for new services that I never ordered. Finally, they are charging me for equipment that I returned because they have no record of it. I doubt that my portion of whatever a class action might award would make up for the headaches, hassles and harassment they have put me through, but if there is anything that I can do to support this case please contact me. They are among the worst experiences I’ve ever had with ANY consumer product over the course of my lifetime
I have just submitted a complain to the FTC which I did not know about until today that Direct TV has complains and already in court.
I am a victim of this Direct Tv abuse and fraud contract. I signed up many years ago, I need to look at my records because it was part of the AT & T service. At first it was a reasonable cost but after 2 months Direct TV started raising my my subscription to $100 I think and every month it was increasing. This is ridiculous and was not in the contract. I decided to stop it because I cannot afford that and Direct Tv cheated me as a customer. When I called them that I will discontinue my subscription they increased it to more than $400.00. I cannot afford that and that is cheating. Until now it is my AT & T monthly statement and I have not subscribed anymore. I filed for complain to the FTC only today which I should have done two years ago. I also just found out that there are so many customers complaining about their abuse and cheating them. AT & T should also be responsible because they accommodated the Direct TV and they never helped me as a customer. After my records will be cleared I will stop my wifi and internet subscription with At & T. It is another company that needs to be investigated because it is charging customers so much and also changes almost every month what are available to the customers. As a senior citizen, they had some nice deals and then later they will cancel those or without informing me they will change it.
Anyway I hope this Direct TV litigation will be finished and the court should require them to return those payment given by the customer after cheating them I hope the court will listen to the customers like me. Direct TV should not be allowed to conduct businesses because they will continue cheating the customers and it seems those are already fraud. Direct TV does not specify changes in the contract. They will just increase the rate without telling the customer and no reason at all. These are abuses and bad . this should not be practiced in this country . If the FTC will not take care of my complain I will be reporting my situation to the District ATtorney General.
I lost the card that was sent to me. I wish to be added
I’ve been telling DirecTV for a year that I want to be on the do not call list and I continue to be harassed. I get 1 to 2 calls a week.
In had AT&T for over a year from 2019-2020 and was not informed that I had Direct TV until I received a bill from them. Additionally, AT&T is guilty of false advertising via bait and switch practices. Please add me.
On do not ? call list but received multiple phone calls from direct tv with out my permission
I’ve received phone calls and still have a text message from them that I saved.
Add me. Last Saturday I had 6 robo calls from DitectTv. They all started out with…”this is regarding your DirectTv account. You eliablge for….”.
I dont have s DirectTV account and never have. My number is on the do. It call list since 2007
Add me