The U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, found for AT&T Wireless an...
The U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, found for AT&T Wireless and against Paul Lozano, a customer seeking to bring a class-action suit against the company. Lozano claimed AT&T Wireless billed customers for cellular phone calls during a billing period…
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other than that during which the calls were made. In out of cycle billing, as the practice is called, when AT&T Wireless learns of a roaming call after a customer’s monthly billing cycle ends, it bills for the call next cycle; this may put a customer over that cycle’s allotted minutes, the court said. “According to AT&T Wireless, out-of-cycle billing occurs infrequently, and when it does occur, it is just as likely to result in a reduction in fees as opposed to an increase,” the court said. Lozano appealed district court denial of a nationwide class for his claims under the Communications Act and for declaratory relief. AT&T Wireless appealed the court’s certification of a California-only group of plaintiffs under the state Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) and California Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The court denied Lozano’s appeal, reversing the lower court grant of class certification on Lozano’s UCL and CLRA claims. A wireless industry attorney said Thursday that the decision is “modestly interesting, but not terribly important.”