AT&T, Sprint and WorldCom, the nation’s top three long distance telephone companies, are being sued for false advertising in the marketing of their services in direct response ads and telemarketing calls. The nearly identical lawsuits were filed last month by the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri and New Jersey. Representatives of the companies declined comment on the case. Five suits were filed against WorldCom, formerly known as MCI Communications Inc. California is seeking at least $20 million in civil penalties and consumer refunds. Connecticut, Minnesota, Missouri and New Jersey are separately seeking unspecified civil penalties and consumer refunds against WorldCom. Connecticut is also suing AT&T and Sprint, and Idaho and Maine are suing AT&T, all for unspecified penalties and refunds. Illinois is asking for at least $100,000 in penalties and refunds from Sprint. Specifically, the suits allege that WorldCom failed to disclose all the charges and restrictions relating to its “5 Cents Everyday Plan”; AT&T similarly didn’t fully reveal all charges and restrictions in its “One Rate 7 Cents Plan”; and Sprint failed to disclose all charges and restrictions involved for its “Sprint 1,000 Nights,” “Sprint 1,000 Weekends,” “Sprint Sense AnyTime” and “Sprint Nickel Nights” programs.
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