U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy for Montana in Missoula granted the Digital Progress Institute's, Virginia's and the Institute for Family Studies' unopposed motions for leave pending since Aug. 30, all in opposition to the consolidated motions for a preliminary injunction to block Montana from enforcing SB-419, the state’s TikTok ban, when the measure takes effect Jan. 1, said the judge's signed order Tuesday (dockets 9:23-cv-00056 and 9:23-cv-00061). The actual briefs are due Sept. 26, said the order. Molloy previously ruled, “absent exceptional circumstances,” that he will consider no additional motions for leave to file amicus briefs in support of or in opposition to the injunction, not counting those motions in opposition that were already pending (see 2309060015). “This being a case with substantial public interest, amicus briefing may be helpful to provide unique information and perspective beyond that provided by the parties,” said Molloy’s Tuesday order. Each of three granted motions “seeks leave to file briefing that is both timely and useful,” it said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) looks forward to “fighting for this commonsense law in court,” emailed a spokesperson Monday of AB-587, the state’s social media law, after the X platform, formerly Twitter, sued Friday to block the state from enforcing it (see 2309110004). AB-587 requires social media companies with annual revenues exceeding $100 million to file “terms of service” reports with the California AG, specifying their content moderation policies and practices, with the first report due Jan. 1. AB-587's defenders call it “a pure transparency measure that simply requires companies to be upfront about if and how they are moderating content.” But X’s lawsuit said AB-587 violates the First Amendment and the California Constitution because it compels companies like X “to engage in speech against their will.”

U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Miami designated Thomas Harper as the certified mediator in Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s (R) robocalling case against Smartbiz Telecom, said a clerk’s notice Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-23945). Harper runs his own law and mediation practice in Jacksonville. The parties asked the court to designate a certified mediator on a “blind rotation basis” after they were unable to agree on one (see 2309060017). Moody’s Dec. 5 complaint called Smartbiz “one of the most prolific transmitters of illegal robocalls” in the U.S., alleging the VoIP company violated the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act and other statutes, plus the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (see 2212060034).

The parties in Florida’s lawsuit to stop Smartbiz Telecom from transmitting illegal robocalls have been unable to agree on a mediator, and asked the clerk to designate a certified mediator on a “blind rotation basis,” said a filing Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-23945) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Miami. Patrick Crotty, Florida’s senior assistant attorney general, signed the request. U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez sent the parties to mediation in his signed Jan. 23 order, setting a Nov. 3 deadline for completing the mediation process. Trial in the case is scheduled to begin in the two-week period opening Jan. 2, said the January order. Florida’s Dec. 5 complaint called Smartbiz “one of the most prolific transmitters of illegal robocalls” in the U.S., alleging the VoIP company violated the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act and other statutes, plus the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (see 2212060034).

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy for Montana in Missoula, “absent exceptional circumstances,” will consider no additional motions for leave to file amicus briefs in support of or in opposition to the motions for a preliminary injunction to block Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) from enforcing SB-419, the state’s TikTok ban, when the measure takes effect Jan. 1, said his text order Tuesday (dockets 9:23-cv-00056 and 9:23-cv-00061). The order doesn’t apply to the two motions for leave filed Friday that are pending, one from Virginia AG Jason Miyares (R), the other from the Institute for Family Studies, both opposed to the injunction (see 2309050003). Including those two pending motions, the dockets in the two consolidated lawsuits to block SB-419 include four amicus briefs in support of the injunction, and three in opposition.

A three-day jury trial in plaintiff Ruby Gamez’s class action alleging Redbox engaged in Florida Telephone Solicitation Act wrongdoing (see 2307060003) is scheduled for the trial term beginning Feb. 3, 2025, said a case management and scheduling order signed Tuesday (docket 8:23-cv-01497) by U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington for Middle Florida in Tampa. Next July 5 is Gamez’s deadline for filing a motion for class certification, with discovery to be completed by Aug. 5, and any motions for summary judgment to be filed a month later, said Covington’s order. Gamez alleges Redbox placed unlawful telemarketing sales calls to hundreds of Florida consumers using an automated dialing system and prerecorded voicemail system. She seeks statutory damages and an injunction requiring Redbox to cease all phone solicitations made without express written consent. Redbox, which removed the complaint to Tampa federal court July 5, denies it violated any laws.

Preventing TikTok from “engaging in espionage” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party is “fundamental” to the Digital Progress Institute’s core “principles,” said the institute’s unopposed motion for leave Wednesday (docket 9:23-cv-00061) in U.S. District Court for Montana in Missoula to file an amicus brief in opposition to a preliminary injunction that would block enforcement of SB-419, Montana’s statewide TikTok ban, when it takes effect Jan. 1 (see 2306290041). The institute thinks SB-419 meets all the “metrics of good governance,” said its motion. Montana’s TikTok ban is “incremental in scope” and it’s bipartisan, plus it also takes a “holistic approach” to internet regulation when addressing cybersecurity, it said. SB-419 also is “critical to the promise of privacy for all,” it said. The institute offers a “unique perspective” on Montana’s statewide TikTok ban, said its motion. The parties will argue on the implications of SB-419 for Montana and its citizens, it said. But the institute can provide the court with “a deeper understanding on how Montana’s law fits into the broader national conversation regarding the constitutionality of a TikTok ban and the harms TikTok inflicts on our national security,” it said. The institute can also give the court insights on how “an adverse ruling” in the case, granting the preliminary injunction to block enforcement of SB-419, can “detrimentally impact” the efforts of the Biden administration and Congress “to protect our communications networks from foreign adversaries leveraging technologies like TikTok,” it said.

Plaintiff Ruby Gamez amended her May 10 class action by adding more specificity to the types of solicitation calls she claims Redbox made to hundreds of consumers throughout Florida. She alleges Redbox engaged in Florida Telephone Solicitation Act wrongdoing (see 2307060003). The involvement of an automated system for selecting or dialing phone numbers or playing a prerecorded message when a connection is completed is demonstrated by Redbox’s use of a “short-code” phone number, said Gamez’s first amended complaint Wednesday (docket 8:23-cv-01497) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa. The short-code number from which Redbox placed the calls is discoverable through caller ID, but the number isn’t capable of receiving phone calls, it said.

Plaintiff Teresa Brown alleges Office Depot violated the nearly year-old Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act (OTSA) by sending without prior express written consent automated commercial telephonic sales calls, in the form of text messages, to her cellphone and those of her putative class members (see 2307130011), said the parties' joint status report Wednesday (docket 4:23-cv-00287) in U.S. District Court for Northern Oklahoma in Tulsa. Office Depot moved Aug. 16 to compel Brown’s claims to arbitration (see 2308170006). But Brown denies “forming an agreement” with Office Depot to arbitrate her claim, nor did she waive her right to pursue her action on a class-wide basis, said the status report. She denies consenting to receive Office Depot’s text messages, and she believes discovery will show the statute’s retailer exemption “is inapplicable here,” it said. Office Depot contends that Brown “did expressly consent in writing to receive automated recurring text messages, including marketing and promotional messages,” from the retailer, said the status report. Brown also agreed to Office Depot’s terms of use, “which broadly provide for individual, non-class arbitration of disputes,” including Brown’s OTSA claim asserted in her case, it said. Brown proposes that the court schedule an initial 90-day period of discovery “focused solely on issues relevant” to Office Depot’s pending motion to compel arbitration, said the status report. Under the circumstances, Brown should be afforded “a reasonable opportunity to take discovery” on the “threshold question” of whether she entered into an arbitration agreement with Office Depot, which she denies, it said. Office Depot opposes Brown’s discovery request, it said. The retailer doesn’t believe there’s a basis “to permit discovery with respect to the pending motion to compel arbitration,” it said. It reserves the right “to lodge objections to the scope of such discovery requests, or claims of privilege,” if the court permits Brown to take such discovery, it said.

State attorneys general won judgments banning robocalls by Health Advisors of America, Scott Shapiro and Michael Smith, said North Carolina AG Josh Stein (D) Wednesday. Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas AGs also participated in the cases. The U.S. District Court for Southern Texas permanently banned the defendants from making robocalls or working with companies that make robocalls. Defendants are also banned in the plaintiff states for 10 years from engaging in telemarketing, lead generation, providing or selling telephone numbers or calling numbers on state or U.S. do-not-call lists. Shapiro also is banned for two years from such activities nationwide. The court ordered more than $146 million in combined monetary penalties for Shapiro, Smith and Health Advisors, but those will mostly be suspended except for combined civil penalties of $500,000 if defendants abide by the judgment’s terms.