Supreme Court will take up Philadelphia’s class issue in suit against Comcast

Comcast and its Philadelphia-area cable customers will meet in U.S. Supreme Court.

The court will consider whether those customers can sue as a group claiming that Comcast overcharged them.The class-action lawsuit against Comcast dates all the way back to 2003. It accuses Comcast of wheeling and dealing to get a monopoly in the Philadelphia market and then raising prices. The suit asks for a lot of money: $875 million, according to analyst Jeffrey May with Wolters Kluwer.

“But customers shouldn’t expect checks for hundreds of dollars anytime soon in their mailboxes,” he added.The Supreme Court will take up a technical piece of this lawsuit — that’s whether the plaintiffs have provided detailed proof that Comcast overcharged all 2 million area subscribers. A decision could set precedents for other antitrust lawsuits. Jeffrey May says that, even after 10 years, the lawsuit is still in its early stages. He expects the Comcast litigation will probably end with a settlement. Should that happen, he says. Comcast customers are more likely to get coupons than checks as compensation.

This disclosure, WHYY’s content partner NBC-10 is owned by Comcast.