By SDCN Staff
The Justice Department announced that Teleguam Holdings, LLC (GTA) has agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by imposing fees on over 1,300 military servicemembers who terminated their cell phone service contracts because they had received military relocation orders.
GTA will pay $450,000 in compensation to servicemembers, including double damages to servicemembers who paid GTA’s early termination charges, and a $50,000 civil penalty; and GTA will revise its policies to ensure that eligible military service members can end their cell phone service contracts without illegal early termination charges.
“Servicemembers will not be penalized because of their patriotic service to our country,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We will vigorously prosecute companies that refuse to abide by federal law that protects our great men and women in uniform who actively serve to protect our Nation.”
The Department’s enforcement of the SCRA is conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in partnership with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country. Since 2011, the Department has obtained over $482 million in monetary relief for over 148,000 servicemembers through its enforcement of the SCRA.
Servicemembers and their dependents who believe that their rights under the SCRA may have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office.
