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A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories has upheld a 2013 class action trial judgment that ordered Bell Mobility Inc. to compensate thousands of wireless phone customers who were charged monthly fees for 911 emergency service they didn’t receive.

Bell appealed the trial judgment, arguing in court last October that consumers had signed contracts that give the phone company the right to collect 911 fees.

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In a 23-page written decision issued late Wednesday, Justice J.E. Côté states that in his view the wording of the contract didn’t give Bell the right to money. While the contract did mention that Bell might a monthly fee for 911 service, the appellant court unanimously found that Bell was not entitled to the charge unless it followed through and provided the service. A court should be slow to interpret a contract which gives one party pay for nothing, the judge wrote: