FTC, Roomster Parties Given Until May 16 to Resolve Discovery Disputes

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon for Southern New York signed a memo endorsement Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-07389) giving the parties in the fraud litigation against Roomster until May 16 to resolve their discovery disputes, or she will refer the case to a magistrate judge to help with the resolution. The FTC and attorneys general of California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts and New York sued the room-finding app and co-founders John Shriber and Roman Zaks in August for false advertising, deceptive trade practices, including fake reviews, and fraudulent businesses, among other claims (see 2302030034). The plaintiffs accused Roomster in a joint status update Tuesday of delaying or slow-walking discovery, which Roomster denied (see 2304050011). It blamed its slow pace of discovery responses on its “already-limited resources,” but said it’s working with a third-party vendor to allay the plaintiffs’ concerns, said the update.