Let’s hope Verizon is past its Q4-celebration hangover: revenue might be up 13-percent, but users are up in arms about early termination fees (ETFs) and an arbitrator has certified a class action suit against the carrier with around 70 million individuals involved.  If Verizon are forced into providing refunds it could possibly cost them $1 billion.

“My decision is also motivated by my conclusion that as a matter of equity and fairness, millions of class members are entitled to adjudication of the central common questions of fact or law in this arbitration related to whether the $175 early termination fee imposed by respondents Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless … is based upon an unenforceable liquidated damage clause”Eugene I. Farber, senior arbitrator-mediator for the American Arbitration Association in White Plains, N.Y.

While a date for the trial is yet to be set, the expectation is that it will occur at some point between the middle and latter part of 2008. 

“This ruling is a tremendous victory for Verizon Wireless subscribers.  After four years of extremely hard-fought litigation in several courts and in arbitration, this ruling ensures that Verizon customers who have been charged illegal early termination fees will have an opportunity to prove their claims on a class-wide basis and to seek a refund of nearly a billion dollars worth of illegal charges”Scott Bursor, counsel for the plaintiffs

Verizon declined to comment because the arbitration remains pending.

[via Engadget]