Class Action Settlement for Third Party Charges to Landline Accounts

Chicago, IL:Several class action lawsuits naming providers of "premium content" (e.g., products and services such as voicemail and email services provided by entities other than the Local Exchange Carriers that are available to customers for a fee that is billed to the customer's landline telephone account) as defendants have recently been settled. The class action lawsuits involved claims that premium content charges that appeared on the landline telephone bills of landline subscribers in the U.S. were unauthorized. The premium content providers covered by the settlement are the following entities related to defendant Snackable Media LLC: Email Discounts LLC, Intelicom Messaging LLC, Email Discount Network LLC, Douglas Lambert Laboratories LLC d/b/a Orbit Telecom, Conxtr LLC, Ezsavr LLC, Residential Email LLC, Voicemail Direct USA LLC, Email Music Network LLC and Messaging Plus LLC. While the defendant denied each of these allegations of unauthorized billing, the parties involved agreed to settle the class action lawsuits and asked the court to preliminarily approve the settlement.

The settlement has been preliminarily approved by the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; it provides for cash payments and refunds for unauthorized premium content charges to class members, and attorney's fees of up to $980,000. Class members are eligible to receive a one-time cash payment of $14.95, or a refund of up to three months of premium content subscription charges. Members of the settlement class include any person in the U.S. and its territories who, at any time prior to December 23, 2010, was billed and paid for unauthorized premium content associated with the entities covered by the settlement. Consumers can determine whether they are class members and their eligibility to participate in the settlement, by scanning past phone records for charges from the premium content providers identified above. Consumers may also visit the following website to obtain further information about the settlement and to file a claim: landlineclassaction.com.

In addition to the cash payments and refunds made to class members, the premium content providers have agreed to adhere to certain guidelines for premium content sales and marketing and to remain in compliance with the Federal Communication Commission's "Anti-Cramming Best Practice Guidelines," as applicable, as well as inform landline subscribers who contact them concerning allegedly unauthorized charges of such subscribers' option to unsubscribe upon request. The premium content providers have specifically denied any wrongful conduct, and the settlement is in no way a judgment or ruling by the Court that any party engaged in any wrongful or illegal conduct.

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Published on Jan-10-11