CHARLESTON – A federal class action lawsuit has been filed against Suddenlink for failure to provide safe, adequate and reliable services to its customers.
Cheri Michelle Edens of St. Albans is the named plaintiff in the complaint, which was filed February 28 in U.S. District Court in Charleston against Cebridge Acquisition, Cequel III Communications I, Cequel III Communications II and Altice USA.
Last month, the Public Service Commission of West Virginia issued a ruling accusing the cable and internet company of such problems through “intentionally reducing its maintenance work and maintenance budget, reducing full-time employees, changing its methods of communicating with its subscribers and ignoring the thousands of customer complaints that resulted.”
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The ruling followed nearly 3,000 complaints about Suddenlink’s “wholly inadequate service,” most coming since 2019.
“The PSC started it, and we’re going to finish it,” Rusty Webb, one of the plaintiff attorneys, told The West Virginia Record.
The PSC said Suddenlink has “severely damaged the ability of West Virginians to engage in commercial competition, obtain information, communicate and enjoy entertainment in the digital age.”
“Meanwhile, citizens of similarly situated cities in similarly situated states enjoy service superior to that provided by defendants,” the complaint states. “As a result, defendants’ failures significantly impede the quality of life of West Virginians.
“The impact of those failures was significantly magnified when many West Virginians were required to engage in remote learning or work using defendants’ inadequate services.”
The lawsuit expands on the PSC investigation, alleging Suddenlink uses out-of-date equipment, fails to perform customary maintenance and lacks basic backup equipment designed to minimize outages.
The lawsuit claims parent company Altice purposefully changed “Suddenlink’s focus on service, innovation and investments” to a focus on aggressive cost-cutting and profits. The lawsuit alleges that even as Altice USA CEO Dexter Goci bragged that Suddenlink’s 47.3 percent profit margins were the highest in the U.S. cable industry, he vowed that, “We’re turning the screws a little more” on cost cutting.
In addition to inferior cable, phone and internet service, the complaint also targets Suddenlink’s “unconscionable” adhesion contract, saying customers are bound by an “unsigned, internet-posted, take-it-or-leave it agreement.”
“Customers have no bargaining power respect the terms of the agreement,” the complaint states. “The Suddenlink adhesion contract effectively imposes no obligations on Suddenlink, but numerous obligations on the customer. The Suddenlink adhesion contract exposes the customer to unlimited liability while severely restricting Suddenlink’s liability.”
The complaint accuses the defendant companies of negligence, gross negligence, reckless and willful conduct, unjust enrichment, quasi contract, unenforceable contract, violations of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages and other damages, attorney fees, court costs, pre- and post-judgment interest and other relief.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Webb of The Webb Law Centre in Charleston and by Dennis C. Taylor of Franklin Scott Conway in Huntington. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge John Copenhaver.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:22-cv-00101