On February 18, 2009, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted preliminary approval to the proposed settlement in the Michelle Sims v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that some Verizon Wireless Subscribers were assigned a "recycled" mobile telephone number and were charged for third party mobile content that they had not authorized, but rather were purportedly authorized by the previous owner and/or users of that mobile telephone number. The lawsuit alleges that this resulted in unauthorized charges to Subscribers' accounts and seeks to represent a nationwide class of such Subscribers. Verizon Wireless denies that it has done anything wrong. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
On or about March 13, 2009, VZW will mail class notice directly to all current and former customers identified as class members. The notice will provide information about the settlement, including deadlines for submitting a claim form, opting out of the class and filing objections to the terms of the settlement. For your convenience, you can either print out and complete the claim form and mail it to Sims Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 4109, Portland OR 97208-4109 or, in the alternative, go to www.simsclasssettlement.com and submit a claim form electronically. Make sure to follow all of the instructions on the claim form. In order to be considered for a refund, your claim form must be postmarked or received no later than June 12, 2009. If your claim form is not postmarked or received by the required date, your claim will be rejected, and you will be deemed to have waived all rights to receive any benefits under this settlement.
If you submit a valid claim form you will be entitled to a refund or credit in an amount up to fifteen dollars ($15). The settlement awards will not be distributed until after final approval is granted by the judge. The court will consider final approval at the Fairness Hearing on July 24, 2009. If the Court gives final approval to the settlement, there may be appeals that will delay your refund. This website will be updated after the hearing.
To view the settlement documents please click here.
Additional information about the settlement can be found by going to www.simsclasssettlement.com.