Class Action Seeks Damages for 'Dirty' Cell Phone Number Fees

A Michigan cell phone customer has filed a class-action lawsuit alleging his carrier and a company that provides mobile-content services are knowingly using recycled, or "dirty," cell phone numbers, causing customers to be charged for services they never ordered.

Plaintiff Tony Pratt is seeking restitution and damages for breach of contract from Alltel Communications and Predicto Mobile.

Alltel is a subsidiary of Verizon Wireless. Verizon spokeswoman Michelle Gilbert said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

Pratt says that when he signed on with Alltel in December he did not know he had been assigned a "dirty" phone number.

A "dirty" phone number contains pre-existing billing information pertaining to mobile-content services ordered by the number's previous user. The content can be for a range of services, including ringtones, games, news or daily horoscopes.

Alltel supplies mobile-content providers with a list of deactivated cell phone numbers, and the providers bear the responsibility of canceling any subscriptions on those numbers, according to the complaint.

However, Predicto has refused to comply with the protocol in order to bilk cell phone customers for unauthorized services, and Alltel allows its customers to be charged for them, the suit says.

Pratt says that since January he has been billed for multiple services he never authorized.

He seeks to represent all Alltel wireless subscribers whom Predicto has charged for services authorized before the subscribers were assigned their telephone numbers.

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Pratt is represented by Mark H. Freedman in Southfield, Mich.