Wiley Rein Successfully Defends Verizon Against Purported Class Action Lawsuit

October 1, 2014

Wiley Rein LLP successfully defended Verizon Enterprise Solutions LLC (“Verizon”) against a purported class action lawsuit claiming that the company had improperly assessed charges on a large number of Verizon calling plans for business customers.

Verizon is represented in this matter by Andrew G. McBride, chair of Wiley Rein’s Communications Litigation Practice; Joshua S. Turner, co-chair of the Communications Enforcement & Compliance Group; and associates Caroline Rose Van Wie and Michael Connolly.

Verizon challenged the named plaintiff’s claims, arguing that they were wrong on the merits but that in any event, the customer was required to resolve the dispute via individual arbitration, pursuant to the controlling arbitration clause in the customer’s contract.

Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted Verizon’s motion to compel arbitration.  The decision reinforced the binding nature of arbitration clauses.  The September 29 ruling can be found here.