11th Circuit Decertifies |T-Mobile Class Action

(CN) - T-Mobile USA successfully petitioned the 11th Circuit to decertify a class action filed by former employees who say the company owes them commission for the sale of prepaid cell-phone plans.

Lead plaintiff Henry Vega described the nationwide class as: "All employees of T-Mobile who received, or were entitled to receive, commissions for the sale of T-Mobile prepaid cellular telephone plans who did not receive their commissions or were charged back by T-Mobile for their commissions."

The Atlanta-based federal appeals court backed T-Mobile's claim that there are too many individual differences among the proposed plaintiffs' cases to warrant class certification.

"[T]he claims Vega has asserted on behalf of the class depend on the terms, conditions, and mutual understandings regarding compensation that each class member had with T-Mobile," Judge Tjoflat wrote. "Without a common contract, it is impossible for Vega to bring a case typical of all other class members."

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