Class action against T-Mobile USA’s texting moves forward

A federal judge in Seattle ruled a class action texting lawsuit against T-Mobile USA Inc. will move forward, a development that comes as the mobile-phone industry offers to help federal regulators crack down on third-parties that send unsolicited commercial messages to subscribers.
While third-party texting appears to be part of a growing problem for consumers and cellular operators – the latter defendants in many lawsuits -the complaint filed by Marco Zaldivar and others against the No. 4 cellular operator also targets a business practice that allegedly prevents consumers from disabling handsets from receiving text messages.
“This ruling is a big win for T-Mobile customers and we’re looking forward to presenting our case to the court,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, the law firm representing plaintiffs.
The complaint against T-Mobile USA asserts subscribers have few options for dodging charges from unwanted text messages, and customers faced with the choice of either continuing to absorb charges or leaving the carrier. But doing the latter before the service contract ends can trigger an early termination fee of $175 or more, another controversial industry practice that’s also been a magnet for class action lawsuits.
“We don’t believe either option is tenable for the company’s 27 million subscribers,” Berman stated. “It is noteworthy that other carriers have found a way to allow customers to disable this function.”
T-Mobile USA disputed the notion that it renders its customers helpless to ward off unsolicited text messages and accompanying charges.
“While T-Mobile does not comment on ongoing litigation, the court’s recent decision was not a decision on the merits, but rather an early procedural motion,” the company said in a statement.
The carrier added: “T-Mobile is committed to providing the best customer experience in wireless and does offer customers the ability to block chargeable text messages, MMS, IM and e-mail from being sent to their handsets at no additional charge. Customers can contact Customer Care or a retail sales representative for assistance and soon will be able to help themselves with tools on www.myt-mobile.com. … T-Mobile also has extensive filters built into the network to help detect and block spam text messages being sent to customer’s handsets that originate from internet IP addresses. These filters are updated on an ongoing basis, including monitoring for newly emerging schemes.”