WASHINGTON (AP)-MCI Communications Corp. can continue its practice of not disclosing on monthly bills that it charges customers in full-minute increments, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a class-action suit brought against MCI.
Customer Harriet Alicke of Florida brought the action against the nation’s second-largest long-distance company last year, alleging the company was deceiving customers by not divulging the rounding-up policy on monthly bills.
She did not challenge the reasonableness of MCI’s rounding-up policy nor dispute that the company fully discloses this practice in filings to federal and state regulators.
The appeals court affirmed that Alicke “has not adequately alleged that MCI’s billing practice actually deceived her or is capable of deceiving any reasonable customer,” Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote in a unanimous opinion of the three-judge panel.
Alicke’s attorney, Steven Rhoads, said he was disappointed by the court’s decision. “It’s just a blow to consumers,” he said.
Rhoads, speaking in a phone interview from his Greenbrae, Calif., office, said no decision has been made about an appeal to the Supreme Court.
MCI, like most other long-distance and wireless companies, rounds up the length of each long-distance call to the next full minute for the purpose of billing. Since the suit was filed, MCI has come out with MCI One, which rounds charges to six-second intervals for a range of communications services-including long-distance and cellular.
On the bills MCI sends to its customers, it reports only the rounded-up figures, not the actual length of the phone call, court documents said.
