In re Text Messaging Antitrust Litigation

A class of plaintiffs alleged that AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, which together supplied 90 percent of text-messaging service and shared pricing information at trade-association meetings, conspired to fix text-messaging prices; the plaintiffs pointed to the carriers' simultaneous shift to volume-based pricing, price increases for per-use messages despite falling costs, and an internal T-Mobile email describing a price increase as "colusive [sic] and opportunistic." Having survived an earlier motion to dismiss based on circumstantial evidence, the carriers ultimately won summary judgment after discovery, and the plaintiffs appealed.