TORONTO – The Ontario Court of Justice is allowing a potential multi-million-dollar class action lawsuit against Bell Mobility to proceed.
According to a Toronto Star report Monday, the lawsuit stems from the expiry of a Bell-owned Virgin Mobile prepaid card with a balance of about $58.60 belonging to Celia Sankar. Sankar alleges Bell “seized” money remaining on her card after its expiry date, arguing that prepaid phone cards are “gift cards” under the Consumer Protection Act and therefore not subject to expiry dates.
She is seeking $100 million in general damages for herself and some one million fellow complainants, $10 million in punitive damages, a declaration that Bell Mobility breached its contracts with customers, and an order restraining the corporation from continuing its prepaid card practices. The Star report says that the suit covers phone cards for Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile Canada and Solo Mobile accounts whose active period expired between May 4, 2010, and Dec. 16, 2013.
The report adds that Bell Mobility has denied breaching its contracts with customers and that provincial regulations against expiry dates on gift cards apply to prepaid wireless services. The company also said that the suit lacks true commonality and therefore cannot “proceed on a class-wide basis”, the report continues. A trial date has not been set.
Sankar is the founder, president and executive director of DiversityCanada Foundation. As Cartt.ca reported last June, the Foundation, along with the National Pensioners Federation, petitioned the Governor in Council to quash a section of the Wireless Code of Conduct regarding expiry dates on prepaid wireless service cards, after the CRTC declined to do so.
