Verizon Wireless Inc., the biggest
U.S. mobile-phone company, agreed to offer current and former
customers benefits worth as much as $45 in a sweetened bid to
settle a lawsuit alleging improper billing and disclosure.
Judge William Pate of California Superior Court on November 13
gave preliminary approval to the revised class-action settlement
after questioning a 2002 accord, worth as much as $30 to each
customer. Verizon Wireless, in an e-mail to clients,
denied wrongdoing in the claims, which date between January 1, 1991,
and November 2.
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The suit, filed in San Diego in 2000, claims the company
failed to fully disclose certain fees and limitations of its
service, and improperly billed some U.S. customers. The proposed
settlement comes as U.S. wireless companies are under pressure to
improve service because of a federal rule allowing customers to
change carriers without giving up their numbers.
Verizon Wireless allegedly charged so-called roaming fees
when it shouldn’t have and falsely advertised its service as
nationwide, according to the lawsuit. The Bedminster, New Jersey-
based company, a closely held unit of Verizon Communications
Inc., had 36 million customers in September.
The judge set an April hearing to decide whether to give the
settlement final approval, Verizon Wireless said. The company
didn’t say how many customers would be compensated. Jeffrey
Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, which is 45 percent
owned by Vodafone Group Plc of the U.K., declined to say how much
the agreement might cost the company.
Bloomberg News
