Rebecca Day

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), an international group of Christian communicators, joined a lawsuit (docket 2:23-cv-02705) to block AB 587, a California law that would require social media companies to report content deemed “hate speech” and “disinformation” to the government. “In an environment where much religious viewpoint expression is considered ‘controversial’ speech, NRB is acting to stop the weaponization of new laws against Christian communicators,” said CEO Troy Miller in a Thursday news release. It said NRB members represent “hundreds of millions of listeners, viewers, and readers.”

Plaintiffs STC Two and Global Signal asked the court to dismiss with prejudice counterclaims asserted by defendant Thomas Branham in a breach of contract lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio in Columbus. Branham failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and should be dismissed, STC Two said, said a Wednesday memorandum of law (docket 2:23-cv-00764).

Citing “suspect timing” of plaintiffs’ May 1 notice of voluntary dismissal in a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) lawsuit, defendant Nexstar Media asked the court to hold the dismissal in abeyance, in a Tuesday response (docket 1:23-cv-01050) in U.S. District Court for Central Illinois in Peoria.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should grant Consumers’ Research’s request for a rehearing of its challenge of the FCC’s USF 2021 Q4 contribution factor because the authority to decide taxing and spending policies can't be "delegated,” said the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Free State Foundation in an amicus brief Tuesday (docket 21-3886).

Plaintiffs Dean Nasca and Michelle Nasca filed a motion (docket MDL 3047) Friday to vacate the April 20 conditional transfer order No. 7 (CTO-7) pursuant to Rule 7.1(f) of the Rules of Procedure for the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict litigation in their negligence lawsuit against TikTok parent ByteDance. CTO-7 would conditionally transfer Nasca v. ByteDance (docket 2:23-cv-02786) to Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation pending before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in U.S. District Court for Northern California in Oakland.

Plaintiffs EDN Global and its CEO, Jerome Edmondson, are seeking a “do-over,” trying to “plead around” a contract at the heart of a fraud claim against AT&T Global Services, said the defendant in a Friday memorandum (docket 3:23-cv-00355) in support of its amended motion to dismiss in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas.

Microsoft and experience management company Qualtrics “repeatedly and systematically” violated patients’ healthcare privacy rights on the Kaiser Permanente website by intercepting and collecting data, alleged plaintiff “Jane Doe” in a Monday class action (docket 2:23-cv-00718) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle.

Defendant Redbox requested an order Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern Florida in Pensacola to temporarily stay a class action filed against it last month by a consumer alleging violation of the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) (see 2304260048). In the motion (docket 3:23-cv-08760), Redbox referenced the Florida legislature’s recent passage and “imminent enactment” of a bill, HB-761, to amend portions of the FTSA. The amendment passed Florida’s House and Senate and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

Since 2018, VoIP provider XCast transmitted “billions” of illegal robocalls that sellers and telemarketers placed to American consumers in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), alleged a complaint Friday (docket 2:23-cv-03646) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles.

Penguin Random House (PRH) reproduced and synchronized a copyrighted music track in a video advertisement on its YouTube page without license or authority, said a Thursday complaint (docket 1:23-cv-03946) by music publisher Charming Beats in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan.