May 16 Trial Date Set in Verizon’s Legal Fight With its Debt Collector

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff for Southern New York set a May 16 trial date in Verizon’s legal fight with its debt collection agency, CBE Customer Solutions, over the culpability for $6.1 million in damages and court costs associated with a Telephone Consumer Protection Act class-action settlement (see 2212120041), said a case management plan filed Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-08703). Rakoff wants discovery completed by May 15, said the plan. Verizon says an April 2014 master services agreement stipulates that CBE should indemnify Verizon for fees and costs the carrier incurs "in defending any claims arising out of CBE's services." CBE countersued for unjust enrichment and breach of the implied covenant of good faith, alleging any negligence that mushroomed into a TCPA class action and settlement was of Verizon’s doing, not CBE’s.