T-Mobile/Sprint Promises Fail to Sway New York AG

T-Mobile/Sprint deal sweeteners including free 5G for first responders and a homework-gap program aren’t enough for New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), she said Tuesday during a webcast news conference on vaping. “Providing public benefits are good, but it does not address the antitrust violations,” said James. Trial starts Dec. 9 in the New York and other state AGs' lawsuit against the deal at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A status conference scheduled for Thursday is expected to be a mostly routine pretrial preparation, though the court might also address DOJ's Nov. 8 objection (in Pacer) to Munger Tolles attorney Glenn Pomerantz representing New York and California. DOJ objected because Pomerantz was lead trial counsel for the U.S. in its lawsuit to block AT&T's buy of T-Mobile and "had access to confidential government information that creates a conflict." Pomerantz's legal representative replied (in Pacer) Thursday that DOJ's letter is "untimely, misapplies the relevant ethical rules, ignores the governing 'trial taint' standard for disqualification in this Circuit, and disregards that the Defendants have acknowledged that they have no issue with Mr. Pomerantz and the Firm’s representation of Plaintiff States."