In April AT&T and its lawyers at Mayer Brown helped change the class action landscape when the Supreme Court handed down AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, paving the way for consumer suits to be forced into individual arbitrations.
But arbitration is a funny thing, since it requires the defendant to enforce the contract. AT&T could have done just that in a series of lawsuits stemming from its alleged overcharging of customers by more than $1 billion for state and local taxes. Before Concepcion was issued, AT&T contended that only California and Washington prohibited mandatory arbitration agreements. But AT&T, with Mayer Brown again at its side along with Thompson Coburn, didn’t compel arbitration. Instead, it agreed last year to settle the class action.
