Nonexpert Discovery Set to End March 31 in T-Mobile Fight vs. Landlords

With mediation having failed this month in T-Mobile’s rooftop antenna dispute with three Bronx landlords (see 2301170036), U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cott for Southern New York signed a scheduling order Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-08369) setting a March 31 deadline for completing all nonexpert discovery. The order anticipates a bench trial will take up to two days but doesn’t set a trial date. T-Mobile asserts it has the right under its long-term rooftop leases with the landlords to upgrade its telecommunications equipment on the buildings’ rooftop, said the order. T-Mobile asked the landlords to sign a form required by the New York Fire Department to allow the upgrades to proceed at each site, it said. According to T-Mobile, the landlords refuse to sign the form without valid reason and “are trying to hold up the work needed to improve the telecommunications in and around these urban buildings,” it said. “The issue is one of contract interpretation,” it said. The defendant landlords also seek “proper compensation” for T-Mobile’s “additional use” of the rooftop space, it said.