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Top court dismisses Bell's appeal of 911 fee decision

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear Bell Mobility's appeal of court rulings that found the company needs to repay northern customers charged for non-existent 911 service.

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear Bell Mobility’s appeal of court rulings that found the company needs to repay northern customers charged for non-existent 911 service.

“We’re disappointed with the decision and will now move forward with the next phase of the proceeding,” Jason Laszlo, a spokesperson for Bell said in an email.

It’s not clear what the next step will be. As usual, the top court didn’t provide reasons for refusing to hear the case.

The case stems from a class-action lawsuit initiated by northern customers, father and son James and Samuel Anderson, in the Northwest Territories.

In 2013, Justice Ron Veale ruled the company was liable for charging the services that weren’t accessible to most Bell users in the territories - 911 only exists in Whitehorse.

He ordered the company to pay back 30,000 customers in the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories that were charged the 75-cent fee for non-existent services.

The decision was confirmed by the Northwest Territories Court of Appeal in January this year.