Lawsuit Over AT&T Cell Phone Service To Proceed

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A lawsuit alleging that AT&T Inc.'s cell phone customers received inferior service after the company's wireless division was sold to Cingular Wireless can proceed as a class

Friday, August 17th 2007, 9:45 pm

By: News On 6

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A lawsuit alleging that AT&T Inc.'s cell phone customers received inferior service after the company's wireless division was sold to Cingular Wireless can proceed as a class action, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

At issue was a clause in old Cingular contracts that forced customers to litigate their grievances independently, instead of grouping together for a class action lawsuit.

A three-judge panel in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the contract was a violation of California law.

The ruling is further condemnation of so-called ``class action waivers,'' which other courts have ruled illegally shield companies engaged in potentially harmful conduct.

The court took a ``clear position protecting consumers and their right to pursue class action relief,'' said Bill Weinstein, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers.

The case was filed as a national class action lawsuit in 2006 by Kennith Shroyer of Porterville, Calif. Shroyer had switched his AT&T cell phone accounts to Cingular after Atlanta-based Cingular's $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in October 2004.

Shroyer claimed Cingular let AT&T's service deteriorate in a scheme to force AT&T customers to switch to Cingular under less favorable contract terms.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ordered the case into individual arbitration last year because of the class action waiver in Shroyer's contract.

AT&T _ whose $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. last year gave it full control of Cingular _ has since rebranded the cell phone provider under the AT&T name.

The company said Friday that the ruling is based on language in an old contract, but didn't provide details as to how its new contracts differed.

``We have significantly improved that clause to make it even more consumer friendly,'' the San Antonio, Texas-based company said in a statement. ``We believe arbitration is the best course for resolution for our customers.''