Judge Sets March 2 Hearing in MetroPCS v. CPUC

A judge scheduled a case management conference for March 2 in a MetroPCS lawsuit against the California Public Utilities Commission at the U.S. District Court of Northern California. The hearing will start at 10 a.m. PST, District Judge James Donato ordered in a Wednesday text entry in docket 3:17-cv-05959. The wireless company sued the CPUC in 2017 to challenge California assessing USF payments for prepaid phone service. MetroPCS said the 2014 California Prepaid Act and related CPUC resolutions imposing USF surcharges on prepaid wireless are unlawful and preempted (see 2204250049). In a related investigation, the CPUC is seeking up to $230 million in fines against Metro for failing to remit the state USF payments (see 2204250049).