T-Mobile Expects to Seek Arbitration of 2022 Data Breach Claims

T-Mobile anticipates moving to compel arbitration of each of the dozens of named plaintiffs’ claims in the multidistrict litigation arising from its 2022 data breach, said the parties’ joint proposed agenda Monday (docket 4:23-md-03073) in U.S. District Court for Western Missouri in Kansas City in anticipation of their Sept. 29 initial pretrail conference. T-Mobile submits that, consistent with the Federal Arbitration Act, discovery should be stayed pending resolution of T-Mobile’s anticipated motions to compel arbitration, said the proposed agenda. Without such a stay, the parties’ arbitration agreements “will be undermined and T-Mobile will be deprived of the benefits of the agreements,” it said. Those benefits include avoiding the costs associated with the “full-blown” discovery in court “in favor of the more efficient and streamlined discovery afforded in arbitral proceedings.” The plaintiffs propose the parties meet and confer within 14 days of a motion to compel arbitration “with respect to any necessary arbitration discovery, including any information bearing on the enforceability of arbitration,” said their portion of the joint proposed agenda. The plaintiffs’ statement is silent on T-Mobile’s preference to stay discovery pending resolution of the motion to compel.