Opinion ID: 3065196
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: AT&T’s WSA is a contract of adhesion.

Text: [5] As we noted in Shroyer, a contract of adhesion under California law is a standardized contract imposed on the subscribing party without an opportunity to negotiate the terms. Id. The Concepcions were given the standardized WSA without the opportunity to negotiate the terms. Thus, under California law, it is a contract of adhesion. 14396 LASTER v. AT&T MOBILITY LLC b. The dispute involves predictably small amounts of damages. [6] In both Shroyer and Discover Bank the damages at issue were found to be “predictably small.” The plaintiffs in Shroyer sued under cell phone contracts, claiming damages in the “hundreds of dollars” range based on the cost of obtaining new cell phone service with other companies. 498 F.3d at 984. In Discover Bank, the plaintiff sought to recover a $29 fee charged for late credit card payments that were claimed not to be late. 113 P.3d at 1104. Each court determined that these amounts were small enough to satisfy the second prong of the Discover Bank test. See Shroyer, 498 F.3d at 984; Discover Bank, 113 P.3d at 1110. Here, the damages are $30.225 for the sales tax charged on cell phones AT&T advertised were “free.” This is comparable to the amount of damages in Discover Bank, and well below the hundreds of dollars found predictably small in Shroyer. c. The Concepcions alleged AT&T carried out a scheme deliberately to cheat large numbers of consumers out of small sums of money. [7] The Concepcions alleged in their complaint that AT&T was fraudulently advertising the phones were free, all the while knowing AT&T would charge consumers sales tax on such phones. This is sufficient to satisfy the third-prong of Discover Bank. See id. at 984. d. Conclusion [8] Because all three prongs of the Discover Bank test are met, AT&T’s class action waiver is unconscionable under California law. 5 Or $18.60, see supra note 2. LASTER v. AT&T MOBILITY LLC 14397