By Andrew Berg
Sprint Nextel has eluded a national class-action lawsuit alleging it overcharged data-card customers for taxes and then refused to issue refunds.
According to court documents, U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan disallowed the possibility of a national class-action suit, arguing that the plaintiffs had not proven a class action lawsuit would “outweigh the complexity of such a proceeding”.
However, Bryan’s ruling does not prevent the suit from being re-filed as a California-only class action suit created for tax claims.
The complaint was filed in November 2007 by the Utility Consumers’ Action Network, a California-based nonprofit advocacy group with more than 30,000 members. The group alleged that Sprint charged extra fees for incoming text messages sent to customers who bought Internet-access cards.
The group also alleges that Sprint “inexplicably” charged network card customers for services only available on handsets, including voicemail charges and text messaging charges.
Sprint did not reply to requests for comment by press time.