$67 Million Settlement Reached in Atlanta Suit Over Jail Phone Calls
Date:  12-08-2021

Global Tel*Link Corp. will establish a $67 million settlement fund to reimburse customers whose deposits were taken by the company from April 2011 to this past October
From Atlanta Journal Constitution:

The country’s largest provider of telecommunications services to jails and prisons has agreed to end contentious litigation over non-refunded deposits made by its customers.

Global Tel*Link Corp. will establish a $67 million settlement fund to reimburse customers whose deposits were taken by the company from April 2011 to this past October after being deemed inactive, a court motion filed Monday said. The company is also agreeing to change its policies governing inactive accounts so its customers can reclaim unused funds.

The settlement must be approved by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg in Atlanta, who has presided over the class-action litigation. A year ago, Totenberg issued a strongly worded order in which she sanctioned GTL for falsely stating that its customers had been fully advised of the terms of their contracts. The lead plaintiff in the case is Decatur attorney Ben Githieya. In March 2014, while a member of the DeKalb County’s public defender office, Githieya set up a GTL account with a prepaid deposit. Continue reading >>>