Academy Says Its Tower Lease Is With T-Mobile, Not Crown Castle or Dish

Property owner Academy Medical’s lease agreement with T-Mobile uses “plain and unambiguous language” to say what a lessee may do and what a sublessee may do, said Academy’s latest volley Thursday (docket 1:22-cv-00910) in U.S. District Court for New Mexico in its bitter cell tower fight with T-Mobile and Crown Castle (see 2302160034). T-Mobile asserts it was within its rights to sublet rooftop tower space to Crown Castle and in turn to Dish Network, but Academy maintains it was unlawful for T-Mobile to do so without the property owner’s written consent. No part of the lease permits Crown Castle to demand that Academy “consent to a permit so that an entity unrelated” to either T-Mobile or Academy, namely Dish, can perform improvements on the leased site, said Academy’s Thursday filing. Crown Castle treats Dish as though it’s a sublessee of T-Mobile, but Dish is Crown Castle’s sublessee, it said. Academy said Crown Castle “has no legal or contractual right” to ask Academy “to do an affirmative act for any party.” T-Mobile has no “contractual relationship” with Dish for the leased site, nor does Academy have one with Crown Castle or Dish.