Los Angeles, CA: (Mar-08-07) Plaintiffs, as class representatives, alleged that they and in excess of 300,000 other purchasers of the Motorola V710 phone, were deceived by Verizon Wireless in its advertisements and sale of the high end V710 with express representations that it had numerous Bluetooth® capabilities, that in fact it did not. Plaintiffs alleged that Verizon had in fact disabled most of the Bluetooth® functions so that it could charge customers to for various functions that OBEX Bluetooth® functions would have allowed them to perform for free. Cases were filed in California and Ohio, and an AAA arbitration filed in New Jersey. A settlement was reached on March 16, 2006, and the cases were consolidated in Los Angeles before Judge Hess for settlement purposes. Verizon agreed to refund full purchase price for customers and former customers who purchased Motorola V710 cell phones, and V710 specific accessories, at the full purchase price, and refund any "termination" charges, on a claims made basis. Settlement valued between $10.8 and $12.2 million by defendant, and $18.1 million by plaintiffs.
Information Provided by Kirtland & Packard LLP.
