Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Judge rules against Nextel On E-911

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 19:40:01 -0500

Judge rules against cell phone companies
By Michael Sorkin Post-Dispatch
02/08/2003 04:35 PM

U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw ruled Wednesday that two big cell phone companies had
acted
improperly when they tried to avoid being sued in state court by removing the case to
federal court.
Shaw ordered them to pay $3,000 in attorneys' fees to the office of Missouri Attorney
General Jay
Nixon.

In December, Nixon sued Nextel and Sprint in St. Louis Circuit Court. He accused the
companies of
concealing rate increases by labeling them as goverment-mandated fees. Moments before
Judge
Thomas Grady was set to hear the case, the cell companies reacted by around the corner to
the U.S.
courthouse and getting a judge to assign the case to federal court.

On Wednesday, Shaw rejected the companies' arguments that their rates can't be questioned
in state
court and ordered them to pay attorneys' fees for improperly removing the case. Judge
Grady will now
decide whether to grant Nixon's request for a temporary restraining order.

Nixon's suit accuses the cell companies of deceptive billing and advertising. At issue are
added fees for
emergency 911 services. Customers of both Nexel and Sprint say the fees look like taxes.

The companies insist they have taken pains to tell customers that the fees aren't taxes.

Nextel and Sprint charge separate fees for emergency 911 services — services that aren't
yet
available here. When they are, your cell phone will tell emergency dispatch operators
where you are if
you call for help.

Nextel charges most of its 10 million customers $1.55 a month for 911 service and two
other
government-mandated services. Sprint adds a 2 percent charge to the bills of its 14.5
million customers
for the same three services.

In customer bills, Nextel calls its fee federal programs cost recovery and lists it under
taxes, fees and
assessments. In its bills, Sprint calls its extra charge USA regulatory obligations fee.

Nixon suit accuses the two companies of failing to include the extra fees in their monthly
advertised
rates - and tricking would-be customers into thinking that their rates will be lower. This
deception makes
it more difficult for customers to shop around and find the true best price, the suit
says.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/0A31A43BBA4C980986256CC4007F1076?OpenDocument&Headline=Judge+rules+against+cell+phone+companies

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