Cnet has a good article discussing Matt Spaccarelli’s recent victory against AT&T.  It notes that AT&T forced him to go to small claims court specifically because the contract signed by him prohibited the ability of a class action lawsuit.  The Supreme Court ruled in 2011 to uphold a company’s right to include a clause in contracts prohibiting subscribers from suing the company as part of a class action.

At this point, Mr. Spaccarelli’s only two options were an arbitration program, funded entirely by AT&T, or file in small claims court.  CNET’s article notes that many consumer advocates believe that allowing wireless carriers to completely opt out of class action lawsuits is unfair as it will lead to different outcomes in cases which involve essentially the same facts.  Very interesting.

In the wake of the win by an LA County litigant against Honda regarding miles per gallon advertising claims, the LA Times had an article with a variety of tips for small claims litigants.  Nothing new or earth shattering.  The article pointed out that many counties offer small claims advisors.  It discussed the limits of small claims court and other general questions.

In a sudden change of heart, AT&T has decided that it will not be appealing its loss in Ventura County Small Claims Court several weeks ago.  Instead, it has decided to pay Matt Spaccarelli’s damages ($850 + $85 in court costs).  This is a big change from AT&T’s prior position when it sought to appeal the decision and to muzzle Mr. Spaccarelli’s attempts to assist others in his position.  No word yet on whether AT&T will terminate his cell phone service.

Mr. Spaccarelli has created a website to assist other AT&T customers in his position.  Mr. Spaccarelli’s website lists the documents he used in his case.  In fact, Mr. Spaccarelli is already helping his brother who is similarly situated.

Why did Mr. Spaccarelli win?  Because he went in prepared.  He had a statement of the case prepared that he read to the judge and he was able to explain his case in a simple and straightforward fashion (even with something as complex as data throttling on cellular networks regulated by the FCC).  Kudos to Mr. Spaccarelli.  We hope this inspires other CASmallClaims.com readers with their own cases.

A few weeks ago, Heather Peters prevailed in a small claims court case against Honda.  Court Commissioner Douglas Carnahan awarded Peters $9,867.19 in damages (just under the new $10k threshold) (and note it was a commissioner, not a judge who made the decision).

In her case, Peters asserted Honda’s advertising misled her into believing her hybrid could achieve as much as 50 miles per gallon.

Honda, of course, is appealing the ruling.  They called it a “radical and unprecedented departure from California and federal law.”  We believe Honda’s comments are disrespectful and ignorant of the class action lawsuit against Honda on the very same issue.

In fact, Heather Peters had to opt out of the class action lawsuit in order to allow her case to move forward.  The advantage to this is that Heather was able to achieve far more than what she would obtain from a class action settlement.

Here is an update for an earlier story we had regarding a small claims litigant who sued AT&T for throttling his data while on an unlimited service plan.

It appears that AT&T is currently in talks to try and settle the case (which is odd, because they had no intent of doing so prior to the trial).  The law firm retained by AT&T has even threatened to cancel Matthew Spaccarelli’s cell phone service if he doesn’t sit down to talk.

AT&T has also stated they are appealing the judge’s decision.

While Mr. Spaccarelli admits he tethered the phone to his computer, he still believes AT&T went too far with the tethering and essentially rendered his phone unusable without any warning.

While we always encourage settlement before trial, it appears AT&T is now attempting to bully this small claims court winner into settling the case.  We think AT&T should pay their money and be quiet.  Asking Mr. Spaccarelli to be quiet is only going to make the problem worse.

Here’s a fun clip of Mr. Spaccarelli asking AT&T for his money:

We wish him the best of luck as this case continues to unfold.