Following the announcement of the settlement between Sprint, Verizon, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the FCC to settle cramming charges earlier this month, U.S. District Judge William Pauley has filed a motion to halt the execution of the settlement in New York Southern District Court due to a lack of the information necessary to determine whether the settlement should receive final approval from either Sprint or the Bureau.
“How the Bureau believes a judge can evaluate the proposed settlement with a one sentence joint motion, no memorandum of law, and no declarations, eludes this Court. It is especially ironic, given the Bureau’s core mission as described on its website to ‘give consumers the information they need to understand the terms of their agreements.”
Sprint issued a separate statement on the matter:
“We are reviewing Judge Pauley’s order and we will go through the necessary steps to address this matter with the court.”
The CFpB and the FCC announced the settlement earlier this month whereby Sprint agreed to pay $68 million and Verizon $90 million to settle long-standing charges that both carriers participated in ‘cramming’ activity involving third-party premium messaging services that benefitted both carriers in terms of additional revenue.
