Consumerist: victories

Last Wednesday, a US Judge rejected airlines ...

Ben Popken — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:13:45 EST

Last Wednesday, a US Judge rejected airlines efforts to overturn a New York state law that says airlines have to provide, "fresh air and lights, waste removal services and adequate food and drinking water" if passengers are stuck on the tarmac for over three hours. [ATA vs CUOMO (PDF)]

Sprint Will Allow Departing Customers To Unlock Their Phones

Carey — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:46:14 EDT

Sprint will relinquish unlock codes to departing customers in good standing as part of proposed class action settlement.The class was formed last year by California consumers who argued that the locked phones bound them to Sprint by making it more expensive to switch carriers. Sprint claimed that releasing the codes was unnecessary since the service contract clearly informed consumers that phones would only work on Sprint's network.

Sprint phones will only work on the CDMA networks used by Verizon and Alltel, not the GSM networks run by AT&T and T-Mobile.

The settlement covers all customers who bought Sprint phones between Aug. 28, 1999, and July 16, 2007. It should allow those phones to be switched to competitors whose networks are compatible with Sprint's, such as Verizon Wireless and Alltel Corp.
Sprint, whose operational headquarters is in Overland Park, has denied wrongdoing but said it agreed to settle the cases to avoid the uncertainties and expense of litigation.

"We think this is a fair and reasonable settlement," said Matt Sullivan, a spokesman for Sprint.

The settlement is a victory for consumers, and will hopefully nudge other carriers towards releasing their own codes. Similar class actions have been filed against T-Mobile, Apple and AT&T.

Sprint Nextel will provide code to unlock cell-phone software [Kansas City Star]
(Photo: Maulleigh)

Medicare Won't Pay Hospitals For Preventable Errors

Ben Popken — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:16:44 EDT

The Bush Administration announced on Saturday that Medicare will no longer pay hospitals for injuries and errors traditionally deemed "preventable," reports the Washington Post. This is good news for consumers as it will force hospitals to introduce efficiences and adhere best practices. These errors are things like bed sores, infections, slip and fall injuries, and the costs of leaving surgical instruments inside patients after surgery. And perhaps most importantly, a provision in the new rules forbids passing on the costs of preventable errors to consumers. The decision will also save the Medicare program millions of dollars.

Medicare No Longer to Pay for Preventable Hospital Errors, Injuries or Infections [Washington Post]

Cingular's Class Arbitration Waiver Ruled "Unconscionable" By 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:42:17 EDT

Like many many companies, Cingular has a little thing in their contracts saying that if you use their service, you void your right to a class action lawsuit and instead have to go through "mandatory binding arbitration," which is basically an extra-judicial corporate court exempt from many of the basic rules and laws and procedures and rights of real court. Well, today, that clause was ruled "unconscionable" by the 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals. Therefore, lawsuits can proceed against Cingular and go to real court, not monkey court. Hooray!

Shroyer v. New Cingular Wireless Docket No. 06-55964 [PDF] (Thanks to Fred!)

Man Sues Dell And Wins... By Serving Court Papers To The Mall Kiosk

Ben Popken — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:39:50 EST

A NJ man successfully sued DELL in small claims court using a unique approach. He had the court papers delivered to a DELL kiosk in the local mall.

When DELL failed to show in court, Pat Dori, of Hackensack won $3000 by default. A ruling allowed court employees to close the kiosk and confiscate equipment if the judgment was not paid.

Dell settled out-of-court with Mr. Dori under an undisclosed arrangement.

The victory came after five-months and 19 phone calls to Dell after Dori's laptop fan broke. When he turned it in for repairs, Dell lost his laptop and returned just his hard drive. To compensate, Dell offered a refrubed laptop without an extended warranty.

"My big issue was, they never wanted to talk to me, never wanted to hear me,'' said Dori. "The little guy found a way to hit them in the head with a rock. You get their money, you get their attention. God only knows how much their legal team cost them.''

— BEN POPKEN

NJ Man's Lawsuit Against Dell Settled [1010 Wins] (Thanks to Stefan!)