Crown Castle Gets Extended Deadline in Legal Fight vs. Pasadena

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Crown Castle’s request for a two-week deadline extension to Jan. 23 to file its appellee brief against the city of Pasadena, Texas, said a text-only entry Wednesday in docket 22-20454. Pasadena seeks reversal of a district court’s Aug. 2 decision granting Crown Castle summary judgment (see 2212090044). Pasadena says the minimum spacing and undergrounding requirements in its design manual for Crown Castle's small-cell installations are “facially valid” and consistent with the city’s authority. In granting summary judgment for Crown Castle, U.S. District Judge David Hittner for Southern Texas in Houston said a “plain reading” of the manual shows the spacing requirement for small-node networks is “clearly more burdensome” than the requirements applicable to other users of the public rights-of-way. Pasadena filed three 30-day deadline extension motions to file its principal brief since its appeal was docketed before the 5th Circuit denied its last request. Crown Castle's request for an extension was its first.