Ex-customer sues Comcast for $1M after being fired

A California man who says he was fired by PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. after complaining about overcharges on his Comcast Corp. bills filed a federal lawsuit late Thursday against the cable giant for defamation, violating his privacy, and other claims.

Conal O'Rourke, 50, is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

He claims in the lawsuit that Comcast researched his background and learned of his employment with the accounting and auditing firm after he complained to Comcast officials in Philadelphia about billing irregularities that included $312.50 in overcharges and $2,000 in equipment he had not ordered.

Comcast's chief accounting officer and controller, Lawrence Salva, phoned Joseph Atkinson, a top executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers' office in Philadelphia, after O'Rourke's repeated complaints, according to the suit.

Salva accused O'Rourke of using his position with PricewaterhouseCoopers as leverage in his talks with Comcast, the suit said.

Salva was a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers for 12 years before joining Comcast, his biographical information on the Comcast website says.

Comcast is the largest client at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Philadelphia, with about $30 million in billings, the suit says.

PricewaterhouseCoopers opened an ethics investigation of O'Rourke in California and fired him 12 days after Salva's call, according to the suit.

O'Rourke, of Santa Clara, says in the lawsuit that he did not invoke his employment with PricewaterhouseCoopers as leverage in his conversations with Comcast officials. O'Rourke did say Comcast's billing irregularities might warrant the attention of an accounting oversight board, the suit says.

The lawsuit claims that Comcast's actions were defamatory and that it should not have disclosed O'Rourke's personal information to PricewaterhouseCoopers under provisions of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. O'Rourke is represented by the Dhillon Law Group Inc., of San Francisco.

Comcast said Friday that it did not typically comment on pending litigation, but repeated an earlier public apology to O'Rourke. Comcast acknowledged that "there were clear deficiencies in the customer service" as regarded O'Rourke.

The company said it had nothing to do with PricewaterhouseCoopers' decision to fire O'Rourke.

"As part of this investigation," Comcast said, "we have listened to recorded calls between Mr. O'Rourke and our customer-service representatives, and his treatment of them and language is totally unspeakable. Mr. O'Rourke's claims are without merit."