Chicago Judge Orders New Status Report in Case to Vacate T-Mobile’s Sprint Buy

T-Mobile and the AT&T and Verizon customer plaintiffs who seek to vacate T-Mobile’s 2020 Sprint buy on antitrust grounds are to submit a joint written status report by Friday, said U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin for Northern Illinois in Chicago in a docket entry notification (docket 1:22-cv-03189). The report should summarize the case's current status and propose a discovery schedule, said the notification, which also vacated the June 3 report deadline. The order for a new, hastily scheduled joint status report came after the 7th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court rejected T-Mobile’s petition for leave to file an interlocutory appeal challenging Durkin’s denial of T-Mobile’s motion to dismiss the complaint (see 2405170008). A 7th Circuit decision on the interlocutory appeal in T-Mobile's favor likely would have ended the case. The plaintiffs allege that the anticompetitive nature of the 2020 transaction caused their own wireless rates to soar. The case will proceed with three AT&T and three Verizon plaintiffs after the parties stipulated to the voluntary dismissal without prejudice and without costs of plaintiff Brett Jackson, an AT&T customer. The case turns 2 years old June 17.