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General discussion

Contracts anyone.

by C1ay Jul 29, 2007 11:25PM PDT

I recently ran into a case at Groklaw about contracts in today's world that could apply to anyone here with contracts on Voip, wireless/cell service, internet service, etc..

From the 9th Circuit Opinion...

Joe Douglas contracted for long distance telephone service with America Online. Talk America subsequently acquired this business from AOL and continued to provide telephone service to AOL's former customers. Talk America then added four provisions to the service contract: (1) additional service charges; (2) a class action waiver; (3) an arbitration clause; and (4) a choice-of-law provision pointing to New York law. Talk America posted the revised contract on its website but, according to Douglas, it never notified him that the contract had changed. Unaware of the new terms, Douglas continued using Talk America's services for four years.

After becoming aware of the additional charges, Douglas filed a class action lawsuit in district court, charging Talk America with violations of the Federal Communications Act, breach of contract and violations of various California consumer protection statutes. Talk America moved to compel arbitration based on the modified contract and the district court granted the motion. Because the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C.

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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A contract is a contract
by Dragon Aug 1, 2007 11:42AM PDT

It seems to me. Once it has been altered, it's not the same contract previously agreed to.

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That's what you would think but....
by C1ay Aug 1, 2007 10:19PM PDT

This case shows how the state court ruled the contract change was legitimate which effectively ruled out the appeals process of the court system since the new contract required arbitration instead of litigation and the federal rules on arbitration block district court appeals of court orders that mandate arbitration.

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Same thing with credit cards.
by grimgraphix Aug 2, 2007 1:42AM PDT

I regularly get one to two notices a year from each credit card company I do business with, announcing "amendments" to card holder agreements which are usually declarations of one more way the card company can screw you with extra fee's or rate changes.

As for cell phone use? I spend less than 2 minutes per call on my cell phone on average, so I found it more economical to get a tracfone than a regular contract. I generally get a years activation with 250 minutes for less than a hundred bucks. Promotional codes add on another 250 minutes for free usually. Consequently I spend less than $10.00 per month on average, even if I do purchase extra minutes.

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In this particular case.....
by C1ay Aug 2, 2007 1:57AM PDT

No notice was given. TalkAmerica bought out AOL in that region and then posted a new effective contract on their website without giving any of the customers any notice of the new contract. This would seem illegal to me but the lower court actually ruled it valid which effectively cut off the appeals process. Forunately the 9th Cirucuit granted a rare interlocutory appeal and reversed the lower court.

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