https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/07/jury-orders-charter-to-pay-7-billion-for-murder-of-woman-killed-by-cable-tech/%3famp=1
Charter initially screwed themselves because they didn't verify Holden's employment history. If they had, they'd have found that he lied on his application and wouldn't have hired him. Even after that though, he had a lot of complaints of photographing customers' ID's and credit cards and was still sent out on service calls. Long story short, he shouldn't have been on the job at all and Charter should have known/knew.
But to top it off, they royally ****ed themselves by trying to force the family into arbitration with forged documents. They said she checked a box online agreeing to arbitration in their terms of service when she paid get bill online, but her credit card company said she paid over the phone. They also produced a work order with terms of service requiring arbitration, but the signature was forged.
To add insult to injury, they sent the victim a bill for the service rendered the day before their tech murdered her and ultimately sent it to a collections agency.
I'm sure this will be reduced on appeal, but they need MUCH more than a hand slap for this level of behavior.
Quote:
"This was a shocking breach of faith by a company that sends workers inside millions of homes every year," one of the family's lawyers, Chris Hamilton, said in a press release Tuesday. "The jury in this case was thoughtful and attentive to the evidence. This verdict justly reflects the extensive evidence regarding the nature of the harm caused by Charter Spectrum's gross negligence and reckless misconduct."
Former Spectrum technician Roy Holden pleaded guilty to the 2019 murder of customer Betty Thomas and was sentenced to life in prison in April 2021. He robbed and murdered Thomas one day after a service call. The press release described the murder as follows:
Mr. Holden performed a service call in Ms. Thomas' home the day before her December 2019 murder. Although Charter contended he was off-duty the following day, he managed to learn that Ms.Thomas had reported that she was still having problems with her service and used his company key card to enter a Charter Spectrum secured vehicle lot and drove his Charter Spectrum van to her house. Once inside, while fixing her fax machine, the victim, Ms. Thomas, caught the field tech stealing her credit cards from her purse. The Charter Spectrum field tech, Roy Holden, then brutally stabbed the 83-year-old customer with a utility knife supplied by Charter Spectrum and went on a spending spree with her credit cards.
Charter initially screwed themselves because they didn't verify Holden's employment history. If they had, they'd have found that he lied on his application and wouldn't have hired him. Even after that though, he had a lot of complaints of photographing customers' ID's and credit cards and was still sent out on service calls. Long story short, he shouldn't have been on the job at all and Charter should have known/knew.
But to top it off, they royally ****ed themselves by trying to force the family into arbitration with forged documents. They said she checked a box online agreeing to arbitration in their terms of service when she paid get bill online, but her credit card company said she paid over the phone. They also produced a work order with terms of service requiring arbitration, but the signature was forged.
To add insult to injury, they sent the victim a bill for the service rendered the day before their tech murdered her and ultimately sent it to a collections agency.
I'm sure this will be reduced on appeal, but they need MUCH more than a hand slap for this level of behavior.
