Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Consumer lawsuit filed against Sprint PCS, Nextel

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 22:24:55 -0500

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Consumer lawsuit filed against Sprint PCS, Nextel

December 17 13:49:00, 2002

WASHINGTON—A St. Louis federal judge is expected shortly to rule on which court will hear a consumer lawsuit filed in state court filed earlier this month by Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon against Sprint PCS and Nextel Communications Inc.

Nixon filed suit in St. Louis City Circuit Court on Dec. 5 to stop the two wireless carriers from listing charges on subscribers’ bills in an allegedly misleading and deceptive manner.

About a week ago, Nextel and Sprint PCS got the suit removed to a federal court in St. Louis. An attorney in the Missouri attorney general’s office today said the federal judge overseeing the case agreed to expeditiously rule on whether the case will go forward in federal court or return to state court.

“Consumers are being led to believe that these charges are part of a tax or other government fee, when they are actually part of the companies’ overhead cost of complying with governmental regulations,” said Nixon when the suit was filed. “Nextel and Sprint are understating their monthly rates by deceptively listing this amount on the bills. Other cell phone companies are incorporating the rate increase as part of the basic charge, and these two companies need to do so as well.”

Meanwhile, two class action lawsuits have been filed in Kansas City federal court against Sprint PCS and Nextel, respectively, in wireless billing complaints nearly identical to the one lodged by the Missouri attorney general.

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