If you were banking on a refund from BTL anytime soon, you can forget it now.
The Chief Justice today delivered his judgment in the Public Utilities Commission versus BTL case. The PUC went to the court last asking it to order BTL to pay a refund of possibly as much as 60 million dollars to consumers for illegal phone rates charged since December of 2001.
But today the Chief Justice ruled against the PUC and the phone users it claimed to represent. The Chief Justice dismissed the application on the grounds presented by BTL's attorney Lois Young; specifically that the PUC lacks standing to claim for a refund, and that the PUC should exhaust its own authority to convene hearings on a refund before going to the court for help.
It's one more defeat for Consumer Advocate Lascelle Arnold who's been leading the charge against BTL from July of 2002. Arnold says the court has put the matter squarely back into the hands of the PUC, which is now forced to act on the part of consumers.
Lascelle Arnold,
"In his ruling he ruled that the PUC should take up the responsibility towards consumers to let them go through the process so consumers can collect their refunds. What the judge is telling the PUC is that don't come to the court and waste time because for every consumer who has a claim they would have to go the court so it wouldn't be worth the time and money. The PUC has the jurisdiction the solve this problem between the provider and the consumer."
In his judgment, the Chief Justice noted that the PUC is not the body authorized to collect a refund.