Opinion ID: 71242
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Harper litigation

Text: 14 In Harper v. AT & T, No. CV 192-134 (S.D.Ga. filed June 24, 1992), Andrews and plaintiffs Jerry Harper, Josephine Meadows, and J.D. Powell sued AT & T, Sprint, Southern Bell, and MCI on behalf of a Rule 23(b)(3) class of individuals solicited by organizations offering credit cards, which, in part, provide for the making of calls by using a 900 number, who actually made 900-number calls and received bills for the charges. (R. 28-1 at 3 (Compl. at p 8).) 4 The Harper complaint alleges that these 900-number programs violate the federal RICO statute as well as the Georgia RICO statute, Ga.Code Ann. §§ 16-14-1 to 16-14-15 (Michie 1992 & Supp.1995). The complaint alleges that promotional postcards and other solicitation materials used by the organizations contained fraudulent misrepresentations as to the availability of credit and the need to call a 900 number for information about how to obtain a credit card. The plaintiffs contend that the defendants have thus engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity by engaging in mail and wire fraud, both by approving and mailing misleading promotional and solicitation materials and by collecting the revenues produced by caller participation. (Id. at 21-22 (p 67).) 15 Harper proceeded in a similar fashion to the Andrews litigation. During the certification hearing, the named Harper plaintiffs testified that they, like Lamar Andrews, could not identify any deceptive representation on which they relied in making 900-number calls. (See R. 39-272 at 354 (testimony of Jerry Harper); id. at 328-29 (testimony of Josephine Meadows).) The defendants attacked the named plaintiffs and the proposed Harper class, using the same arguments asserted in opposition to the Andrews class. As in Andrews, the court rejected the defendants' arguments concerning standing, and it was not persuaded by their arguments against class certification. The court defined a master class and a Georgia subclass to include 16 persons who paid for one or more 900-number telephone calls billed and collected by AT & T or Sprint, which calls were made in connection with programs offering credit cards, financial information services, catalog cards, or information on obtaining credit cards or catalog cards. 17 (R. 38-210 at 31-32.) 18 After the court concluded that the Andrews and Harper classes could proceed under Rule 23(b)(3), it sua sponte certified for interlocutory appeal the issue of whether class certification was proper. See 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) (1994). AT & T, Sprint, and West-Interactive filed petitions for permission to appeal the class certifications, which we granted.