T-Mobile Presses Court to Freeze Calif. USF Order

California’s shift to a connections-based USF contribution shouldn’t stop the U.S. District Court of Northern California from applying a stay while T-Mobile appeals to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, T-Mobile and subsidiaries said Friday (docket 3:23-cv-00483).The commission's state USF order took effect April 1. Courts can grant stays of preliminary injunction denials "even where the court continues to believe its prior ruling rejecting the movant’s arguments was correct,” T-Mobile said. Thursday, the CPUC opposed the carrier’s motion to stay the court’s March 31 order denying preliminary injunction (see 2304060048). The CPUC "ignores crucial issues of law and fact and concocts speculative and implausible theories of harm for the first time in this case,” T-Mobile wrote Friday. "At a minimum, an administrative stay is warranted to afford the Ninth Circuit sufficient time to consider a stay motion before additional, ongoing, and irreparable harms are inflicted upon Plaintiffs.” The CPUC claims reverting to a revenue-based method will cost the agency time and resources, but it fails to estimate how much, the carrier added.