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Sep. 1, 2008

AT&T customer Michael McKee can now seek a class-action lawsuit against AT&T, since the wireless carrier cannot force its subscribers to use arbitration to resolve contract disputes, according to the Washington State Supreme Court.

This is the final ruling the Court made on Aug. 28.

McKee filed his lawsuit against AT&T more than five years ago, because of several complaints about municipal surcharges and unfair late payment fees.

At that time, AT&T cited an arbitration clause in its contracts. However, McKee’s dispute applied to long-distance services. The mobile phone services also include the arbitration clauses.

McKee’s lawyer Paul Bland said “this is an extremely important case not only for consumers in Washington but à throughout the U.S.”

The unanimous court decision called AT&T’s clause “substantively unconscionable and therefore unenforceable,” according to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer report.

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Source: The Seattle Post.