Pretrial Master Proposal in Fake Ring Tone Case Awaits T-Mobile Response

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert for Northern Illinois in Chicago set a Wednesday deadline for defendant T-Mobile to respond to the Jan. 26 proposal by plaintiffs Craigville Telephone and Consolidated Telephone to appoint a special pretrial master to help manage discovery for the rest of the case (see 2301270006), said a minute entry Monday (docket 1:19-cv-07190). The plaintiffs’ reply is due Feb. 28, said the entry. The fraud class action alleges T-Mobile inserted fake local ringback tones instead of connecting calls to rural areas of the U.S. that have expensive routing fees. The fake tone would make the caller think the recipient didn’t answer, when the call wasn’t actually delivered, the plaintiffs allege. T-Mobile’s alleged stonewalling sparked Craigville and Consolidated to ask for the special master to “ride herd” on discovery.