“AT&T is offering to discuss a settlement to an iPhone user who won a small-claims case that alleged the company was slowing down his ‘unlimited’ data service,” Peter Svensson reports for The Associated Press.
“Last week AT&T sent a letter to Matthew Spaccarelli, a 39 year-old truck driver from Simi Valley, Calif., who sued AT&T and won his small claims case against the company last month,” Reardon reports. “In a letter dated Friday, a law firm retained by AT&T Inc. is threatening to shut off Matthew Spaccarelli’s phone service if he doesn’t sit down to talk. The phone company doesn’t say if the settlement would involve money beyond the $850 award the Simi Valley, Calif., resident won from the company in small claims court on Feb. 24.”
Reardon reports, “AT&T has about 17 million smartphone customers on ‘unlimited’ plans, and has started slowing down service for users who hit certain traffic thresholds. Spaccarelli maintained at his Feb. 24 small-claims hearing that AT&T broke its promise to provide ‘unlimited’ service, and the judge agreed. Spaccarelli has posted online the documents he used to argue his case and encourages other AT&T customers copy his suit. Legal settlements usually include non-disclosure agreements that would force Spaccarelli to take down the documents.”
Svensson reports, “In its letter, AT&T asked Spaccarelli to be quiet about the settlement talks, including the fact that it offered to start them, another common stipulation. Spaccarelli said he was not interested in settling, and forwarded the letter to The Associated Press.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: LOL! What we wrote on March 1:
AT&T is banking that those with “unlimited” data plans won’t take them to the only court our contracts allow (small claims court) where, as the related article below indicates, you have a reasonable chance of winning. According to The Associated Press, AT&T has about 17 million “unlimited” smartphone subscribers, most of whom use iPhones. $850 times 17 million equals $14.45 billion.
Make ’em pay.
And, in response to a comment by a reader – “17 million x 5% throttled and can actually prove damages = 850,000 people, $722,500,000 in damages” – we wrote:
Yes. And we’d like to see AT&T hire 850,000 lawyers to defend themselves.
Wonder how much that would cost? Or would AT&T representatives simply not show up?
Hey, guess who wins in small claims court when only one party shows up?
Sometimes, basic logistics can win the day.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Related article:
AT&T customer wins $850 in iPhone ‘throttling’ case – February 24, 2012