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Current and Former Owners of Land Next to or Under Railroad Rights of Way in Alabama May be Eligible for Cash Payments from a Class Action SettlementBIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Class Counsel in Moore v. Sprint Communications Company L.P., No. 02-PWG -1338-S, and Moore v. Williams Communications, LLC, No. 02-PWG-1447-S, announced that preliminary approval of a Proposed Settlement was granted by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The lawsuit involves fiber-optic cable and related telecommunications equipment that has been installed in railroad Rights of Way. Persons who own or owned land next to or under railroad Rights of Way in Alabama may be eligible to receive benefits. Sprint, Qwest, and WilTel Communications, the Defendants, are telecommunications companies. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the companies or their predecessors buried fiber-optic cable and installed related telecommunications equipment within railroad Rights of Way in Alabama. A railroad Right of Way is a strip of land on which a railroad company builds and operates a railroad. The Defendants entered into agreements with the railroads that own and occupy the Rights of Way, and under those agreements paid the railroads for the rights to install the fiber-optic cable and related telecommunications equipment within the Rights of Way. Plaintiffs allege that, before installing the fiber optic cable and related telecommunications equipment, the Defendants also were required to obtain consent from those landowners who owned the land under the Rights of Way. The Defendants contend that the railroads had the right to allow them to use the Rights of Way without the need for further permission from the adjoining landowners and deny any wrongdoing. Class Members include current or previous owners of land next to or under a railroad Right of Way, at any time since the cable was installed, in the following counties: Autauga, Baldwin, Butler, Chambers, Chilton, Conecuh, Elmore, Escambia, Jackson, Jefferson, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Mobile, Montgomery, and Shelby. Class members can find out when fiber-optic cable was installed in a particular Right of Way by visiting www.AlabamaFiberSettlement.com or calling 1-866-458-3181. Class members will have an opportunity to claim cash benefits if the Court approves the Proposed Settlement. The Proposed Settlement will provide cash payments to qualifying class members based on various factors that include: the length of the Right of Way where the cable is installed, the length of time they owned the property, how the railroad got its property rights, and how many people co-own the property. The Proposed Settlement will also provide the Defendants with a permanent Telecommunications Easement, which gives them the right to use the railroad Rights of Way for their fiber-optic cable and related telecommunications equipment, if they don't already have that right. For more information regarding the Class Action visit www.AlabamaFiberSettlement.com or call 1-866-458-3181. SOURCE Class Counsel |