Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel hit with 17 more billing suits

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 16:17:11 -0400

Nextel hit with 17 more billing suits

by Jeffrey Silva
Oct. 09, 2003 1:32 PM EST

WASHINGTON—A hearing today on an industry motion to consolidate in a single
federal court nearly a dozen billing lawsuits against two national mobile-phone
carriers revealed Nextel Communications Inc. has been hit with another 17 suits.

Up until this morning’s hearing before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict
Litigation, Nextel and Sprint PCS had to contend with 10 billing lawsuits between
them.

In support of his argument to transfer all billing lawsuits to U.S. District Court
for the Western District of Missouri, Thomas Gilbertsen, an attorney for Nextel,
told the seven-judge panel that 17 more billing suits had been filed against the
carrier since the time Nextel first asked to have the billing lawsuits
consolidated in the Missouri federal court.

The same Missouri court today considered preliminary approval of a settlement of a
class-action lawsuit on how Nextel discloses fees designed to recover the cost of
implementing federal mandates like enhanced 911, telephone number pooling and
wireless number portability. The court could give final approval in December.

Nextel and Sprint PCS settled a billing lawsuit with Missouri Attorney General Jay
Nixon in July.
Jonathan Stein, a lawyer representing plaintiffs, said consolidating the cases in
federal court is inappropriate because the issues come under state jurisdiction.
Stein said that eight of the 10 billing cases initially moved from state court to
federal court now have been returned to state court.

On a related front, Cingular Wireless L.L.C. today is expected file an appeal with
the California Public Utilities Commission of a $12 million fine imposed for
business practices regulators said broke state laws.

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15412

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Rent DVDs Online - Over 14,500 titles.
No Late Fees & Free Shipping.
Try Netflix for FREE!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/JYdFFC/XP.FAA/ySSFAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/