[Rocketfan]

In one of the most significant legal rulings in the tech industry this year, a Superior Court judge in California has ruled that the practice of charging consumers a fee for ending their cell phone contract early is illegal and violates state law.

The preliminary, tentative judgment orders Sprint Nextel to pay customers $18.2 million in reimbursements and, more importantly, orders Sprint to stop trying to collect another $54.7 million from California customers (some 2 million customers total) who have canceled their contracts but refused or failed to pay the termination fee.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/99655

[jcmanson]

Can this happen in VA? I sure hope so.

[SumItUp]

Can this happen in VA? I sure hope so.

Probably not. California is one of the most difficult states for businesses when it comes to enforcing contracts. In many situations, consumer rights trump "common sense" practices.

If you don't like the terms, don't sign the contract. If you signed it and don't like it, learn from it.

[LUconn]

Yeah, I don't see how a clause in a contract somebody signed is illegal. Well I guess I can see, but it's a very reasonable clause.

[flamesbball84]

Yeah, I don't see how a clause in a contract somebody signed is illegal. Well I guess I can see, but it's a very reasonable clause.

Well if the clause is illegal in the first place, it's illegal rather someone signed the contract or not. Of course, this wasn't illegal beforehand so it's a bit different...

[RubberMallet]

once again, somewhat unneeded gvt intervention. i'm actually not opposed to this. Either prorate the termination fee or allow people to sign 1 yr deals. i'm all for "if you sign a contract deal with it"...but alot can happen in 2 years. its either that or by a pay as you go phone.... there is way too much time in between. i think the whole thing here is that 2 yr contracts are a little too long of time.

[Kolzilla41]

No wonder my cell bill is so high with Sprint

[LUconn]

once again, somewhat unneeded gvt intervention. i'm actually not opposed to this. Either prorate the termination fee or allow people to sign 1 yr deals. i'm all for "if you sign a contract deal with it"...but alot can happen in 2 years. its either that or by a pay as you go phone.... there is way too much time in between. i think the whole thing here is that 2 yr contracts are a little too long of time.

Do you listen to Clark Howard? He's always harping on how stupid this is and we're actually the only country in the world that has these contracts. Every other country pays full price for a phone but can switch services at any time. The contracts also explain why cell phone companies can get away with such poor customer service. Apparently the mentality of these phone companies go back to when the majority of them were the large monopolies.

[Kolzilla41]

Glad to see another Clark Howard Fan, LUConn. That man is brilliant when it comes to that stuff. Help me get out of debt(almost).