Suit: SBC wrongly charged late-paying customers
12/16/03
Kansas City Business Journal
A Kansas City law firm is trying to get Yellow Pages
advertisers to join in a $20 million class-action lawsuit against SBC Communications
Inc., which the firm said charged customers an unwarranted collection fee.
On Monday, Beckett & Hensley LC mailed notice of the suit to 175,000
advertisers in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The firm
also has taken out Sunday newspaper ads in 15 cities.
The suit alleged that SBC charged an unauthorized $25 collection fee to
Yellow Pages advertisers that didn't pay their bills on time.
Lead plaintiffs are local firms Liberty Cellular Inc. and Blast Inc., which
originally filed their claim in Jackson County Circuit Court in November
2001. The court decided against SBC in a summary judgment in February but
hasn't decided how much the telecom must pay in damages.
San Antonio-based SBC is the largest local phone company in Kansas and
Missouri.
"We have asked SBC to return the money they have wrongfully taken
from their customers, but they have refused," Theodore Beckett, a
lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said in a written statement. "It
is reprehensible corporate conduct.
"Greed is not good."
SBC spokesman Bob Mueller told The Business Journal on Tuesday that Beckett's
statements were misguided.
"That's pretty inappropriate language for what is essentially a breach-of-contract
case," Mueller said.
He said SBC could reasonably charge the collection fee, which he said covers
the cost of collecting unpaid bills. The company since has changed its
advertising contracts to note the charge more outwardly.
"Collection activity fee is a legitimate business activity," Mueller
said.
Copyright 2003 American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
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