Legendary comedian Henny Youngman’s most famous line was “Take my wife.” You can expand the famous comedic line by saying “Take my wife, but leave the cable.” As Charter Communications discovered, Massachusetts customers take their cable service seriously.
Three Charter Communication customers filed the initial class action lawsuit against the cable company in November of 2011. The three primary plaintiffs alleged they suffered an extended loss of service during the 2011 nor’easter, which also goes by the names “Snowtober” and “Storm Alfred.” Three other weather events caused cable outages and the weather events are part of the class action settlement as well.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs claim Charter Communications should have given credits to customer accounts for the prolonged absence of service, which in many cases lasted well beyond the 24-hour minimum threshold established by Charter Communications and agreed to by customers. The three lead plaintiffs asserted Charter Communications was negligent by not clearly disclosing the company refund and credit policies to customers who live in Massachusetts.
Charter Communications Inc and Charter Communications Entertainment LLC have agreed to a class action settlement that a judge preliminarily approved on July 13, 2017. Charter Communications continues to deny the class action lawsuit allegations, but the company decided to accept the settlement to avoid the uncertain outcome of a civil trial.
What You Need To Know About The Massachusetts Charter Communications Cable Outage Class Action Settlement
According to class counsel, eligible class members of the Massachusetts Charter Communications cable outage class action settlement “include current and former Charter customers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who experienced an outage of cable TV, telephone or internet services for at least 24 hours during one or more of the four time periods and did not receive a credit or refund for the outage(s).” Visit the class action website www.CableOutageClassActionSettlement.com to learn about the four weather-related cable outages that lasted more than 24 hours. Eligible class members have until October 23, 2017 to opt out of the class action settlement or contest any provision of the agreement. The potential award is $21 for each of the four outage periods.
Class members must submit the address where they received Charter Communications cable service during one or more of the four outage periods. The class action settlement claims form has a space for class members to enter home addresses. Qualifying class members must submit the claim form by October 23, 2017. The judge who granted preliminary approval of the class action settlement for the case Bruce M. Cooper, et al. v. Charter Communications Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-10530-MGM, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has scheduled the final hearing on November 9, 2017. Find out happened during the final hearing by accessing the class action settlement website.
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