Plaintiffs Seeking to Vacate T-Mobile/Sprint Ask to Compel Exhibits From SDNY Trial

The seven AT&T and Verizon plaintiffs looking to vacate T-Mobile’s 2020 Sprint buy on antitrust grounds (see 2311030011) seek an order to compel T-Mobile to produce a limited number of trial exhibits and deposition transcripts and exhibits from the 2019 bench trial in the Southern District of New York in which multiple states unsuccessfully challenged the acquisition, said their motion Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-03189) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. T-Mobile doesn’t oppose the motion, and has already produced the majority of trial exhibits and several deposition transcripts and exhibits from the New York case, it said. But the issue comes before the court because the requested material “includes non-party information designated confidential or highly confidential” under the protective order issued in the New York case, said the motion. The sought-after documents are “relevant and discoverable” under Rule 26 because they aren’t privileged and contain information directly related to the plaintiffs’ post-merger case, it said. Production of the “distilled set of pre-merger materials” also readily clears the Federal Rules’ standard for “proportionality,” it said. The protective order in the current post-merger case already entered by the court “will protect any information that remains genuinely confidential and sensitive,” it said. The affected nonparties -- Altice USA, Comcast and Dish Network -- “have been put on notice of the issue and have the opportunity to be heard,” it said.