WASHINGTON—A class-action antitrust lawsuit filed against the mobile-phone industry in early January and promptly withdrawn two weeks later is expected to be refiled today in Manhattan federal court, according to a lawyer familiar with the case.
The lead plaintiff in the new suit, which claims the bundling of cell-phone service and equipment increasingly limits consumer choice as industry consolidates and unnecessarily inhibits the integration of public-safety features into phones, is the Wireless Consumers Alliance. WCA, which initially not involved in the litigation, had been critical of the legal underpinnings of the original lawsuit.
In addition to WCA, plaintiffs include the two New York women who first filed the litigation on Jan. 2 and a new group of individuals.
Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and VoiceStream Wireless Corp. are expected to be named defendants in the antitrust lawsuit.
