U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel for Western Texas in Austin signed an order Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-00455) staying the Communications Workers of America complaint against AT&T as the case enters mediation. The stay will remain in effect pending further order of the court, except that within three days of mediation being completed, the parties will notify the court of the outcome of the mediation by filing a joint status report. CWA filed suit against AT&T in May seeking to compel its grievances to arbitration involving alleged AT&T violations of the collective bargaining agreement involving DirecTV employees who were AT&T employees before the DirecTV spinoff in 2021.
SES' appeal of a bankruptcy court denying its C-Band Alliance claims against Intelsat is being referred to U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Colombell for a settlement conference, per an order Wednesday (docket 3:22-cv-00668) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. U.S. District Judge Robert Payne pushed settlement talks at the conclusion Monday of oral argument in the case (see 2303200024)
NetChoice announced the creation of an “official litigation center” to defend “free expression and free enterprise” in court against government overreach. The center “will be the go-to source for the future of American tech litigation, to ensure the internet remains safe and free as it ages,” said Director Chris Marchese Tuesday. NetChoice named Nicole Saad Bembridge associate director. NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo will also help lead the litigation center. NetChoice has mounted legal efforts against various state laws on privacy and Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2303060047, 2302140081 and 2301030062).
Robert Graham, who alleges AT&T’s handset upgrade exchange program was a “bait-and-switch scheme,” had “no contract” with AT&T, and so “no reason” exists to compel his dispute to arbitration, said Graham’s opposition Thursday (docket 1:22-cv-05155) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta to AT&T’s motion to stay his case pending the outcome of that arbitration (see 2303130002). Graham alleges AT&T “falsely and deceptively” sends customers new phone upgrades on new lines they didn’t order, but AT&T asserts he agreed to a “broad arbitration provision” when he renewed his contract with AT&T in October 2018 to upgrade his phone. Even if an arbitration provision were to exist, Graham’s claim about AT&T’s fraudulent activity “clearly falls outside the conscionable scope of an arbitration clause for telephone services and equipment provided,” said Graham’s opposition. If the issue “of the making of the arbitration agreement or the failure to perform it is raised,” either party “may demand a jury trial of that issue,” it said. “These are questions of fact for a jury to resolve,” and accordingly AT&T’s motion to stay should be denied, it said.
DirecTV is third on the list of creditors with unsecured claims against regional sports network Diamond Sports Group, with a customer claim of $40.1 million, said Diamond's Chapter 11 petition Tuesday (docket 4:23-bk-90116) in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern Texas in Houston. The Sinclair subsidiary, which owns about 30 RSNs, owes $1.8 billion to U.S. Bank and $77.2 million to Dolan Broadcast Properties for a contract obligation, said the petition. Additional creditors include the Arizona Diamondbacks ($30.9 million owed), Intelsat ($15 million), Raycom Sports Network ($8.5 million), marketing firms Home Team Sports ($5.1 million) and Harte-Hanks Response Management ($247,904), digital payment platform Evergent ($170,000), Amazon Web Services ($24,000) and AT&T ($22,374), it said.
U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan for Eastern Texas in Sherman signed an order Monday (docket 4:22-cv-00914) directing plaintiff AT&T to file a motion for default judgment against defendant Goodman Networks within 21 days. AT&T’s failure to do so will “risk dismissal for want of prosecution,” said the judge. AT&T’s Oct. 25 complaint for breach of contract and unjust enrichment alleges Goodman, a telecommunication services provider, owes the carrier more than $1.22 million for enterprise internet services rendered under an April 2009 master services agreement and a July 2017 business services agreement. AT&T filed a request Dec. 20 for an entry of default against Goodman for its failure to timely respond to the complaint. The court granted the request the same day, but AT&T never filed a motion for default judgment, said the judge’s order.
Chief U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips for Western Missouri in Kansas City signed an order Friday directing plaintiff Helen Pollak and defendants Verizon and Experian to file either “dismissal paperwork” or a joint status report by May 9 on the settlement of Pollak’s claims that the companies violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, said a text-only entry (docket 4:22-cv-00637). The parties will file a joint stipulation of dismissal when the settlement agreement they reached in principle is final, they told the court Wednesday (see 2303090012). Pollak alleged Experian refused to remove a fraudulent Verizon account from her credit profile.
YouTuber Marshall Daniels owes YouTube parent company Alphabet $38,576 in legal fees for his "frivolous" litigation against the streaming service, ruled U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia DeMarchi for the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California last week (docket 5:20-cv-04687). Daniels sued YouTube in 2020, claiming videos on the pandemic and George Floyd were taken down at the behest of members of Congress. After his complaint and an amended complaint were dismissed, Alphabet sought legal fees. Daniels "articulated no plausible legal theory -- novel or otherwise -- for holding private entities liable as government actors in the circumstances presented," DeMarchi said . Alphabet is entitled to an award of attorneys' fees since the claim "clearly lacked merit and was frivolous from the outset," the judge said.
Plaintiff Helen Pollak and defendants Verizon and Experion reached an agreement in principle “on all material terms required” to settle Pollak’s Fair Credit Reporting Act claims that Experian refused to remove a fraudulent Verizon account from her credit profile (see 2212290001) pending in this action, said her notice Wednesday (docket 4:22-cv-00637) in U.S. District Court for Western Missouri in Kansas City. The parties will file a joint stipulation of dismissal with the court when the settlement agreement is final, it said. Pollak’s complaint alleged it was “profoundly unfair” Verizon can verify false information, in violation of the FCRA, and that Experian “continues to let them do it.” Both companies previously denied culpability.
U.S. District Judge James Cain for Western Louisiana in Lake Charles entered an electronic order Wednesday granting the motion of Frank Walker's survivors for oral argument on the cellphone industry's motion to dismiss their RF radiation complaint on grounds that their claims are preempted by federal law. His order set in-person oral argument for March 28 at 10 a.m. CDT. “The issues presented are such that oral argument would benefit the Court” in the disposition of the case, said their motion earlier Wednesday (docket 2:21-cv-00923). Congress never intended to prohibit state actions “for injuries resulting from cell phone use” when it enacted the Communications Act and the Telecommunications Act, said their opposition Tuesday to the motion to dismiss (see 2303010001). The plaintiffs, Walker’s wife and two sons, allege in their April 2021 complaint that the industry covered up information showing many cellphones don’t comply with the FCC’s specific absorption rate limitations for how much RF radiation is absorbed into the human body. This, they allege, led to Walker’s death from brain cancer. The defendants are AT&T, CTIA, Microsoft, Motorola, the Telecommunications Industry Association and ZTE.