The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that the City of Gurdon’s lawsuit against Suddenlink can proceed as a class action. The Court issued its opinion on November 10, 2022 affirming the Clark County Circuit Court’s ruling. 

Gurdon alleges that Suddenlink collected unlawful fees from numerous Arkansas cities and seeks a refund of those charges. Suddenlink filed an appeal after Clark County Circuit Judge Blake Batson certified the case as a class action. 

The Supreme Court upheld Judge Batson’s ruling and held that the disputed charges were common among all Arkansas cities which had received Suddenlink’s services. The Court concluded that the City of Gurdon could fairly and adequately represent the interests of its sister cities in the prosecution of the lawsuit. 

The case is one of two class-action lawsuits that Gurdon has filed against Suddenlink in response to the company’s charges and practices. The other case is still on appeal. Several other individual and class-action lawsuits have been filed against Suddenlink by residential customers. In each of those cases, Suddenlink has argued that it cannot be sued because of language on its website which it says requires customers to individually arbitrate any claims. Those cases have also been appealed. 

Todd Turner and Dan Turner of Turner & Turner in Arkadelphia and the Thrash Law Firm represent Gurdon and the various individual customers who are prosecuting these claims. Suddenlink is represented by Kyle Seelbach of Husch Blackwell in St. Louis, Missouri. 

The case will now be remanded to Clark County Circuit Court for further proceedings. Todd Turner was pleased by the Court’s ruling and said, “We look forward to continue seeking relief for the scores of people who have had ongoing problems with Suddenlink’s fees and services.”