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More than 20,000 Bell Mobility Inc. wireless phone customers in the Northwest Territories are in line to recoup monthly fees they were charged for 911 emergency service they didn’t receive.

Bell’s last opportunity to overturn the May 2013 class action trial judgment of a NWT judge was thwarted Thursday morning when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to grant leave to appeal from the decision of the Northwest Territories Appeal Court that upheld the ruling at trial. Following its usual practice, the SCC gave no reasons for dismissing the leave application.

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Lawyers for the plaintiff estimate the decision affects 35,000 current and former Bell Mobility subscribers.

Damages have not yet been set, but Sam Marr, counsel for the plaintiffs, estimates the claim is worth between $3 million and $5 million.

“The Andersons and our firm are very pleased with today’s ruling, in the first successful contested class action in Canada’s North,” Marr said.