Rochester, New York's Sept. 8 opposition, denying the allegations of plaintiffs Crown Castle, Extenet and Verizon that the city imposes excessively high fees on telecom providers in violation of federal law (see 2309110005|), rests its entire case on a misinterpretation of the FCC’s September 2018 “barriers” order, said the plaintiffs’ reply Friday (docket 6:19-cv-06583) in U.S. District Court for Western New York in Rochester.
The Republican National Committee’s Aug. 24 motion to dismiss plaintiff Jacob Howard’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action (see 2308250005) “addresses an imaginary complaint” and should be denied, said Howard’s opposition Thursday (docket 2:23-cv-00993) in U.S. District Court for Arizona in Phoenix.
Appellant-objector Cassie Hampe, a class member in the action brought by T-Mobile customers “victimized by one of the largest data breaches” in U.S. history, objected that the $78.75 million in attorneys’ fees awarded in the $350 million settlement fund was a “windfall,” said her 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opening brief Tuesday (docket 23-2744). Hampe sought an adjustment of fee methodology “to account for the economies of scale evident in settlements over $100 million,” it said.
The plaintiffs in the four consolidated cases that comprise the multidistrict litigation challenging Google’s alleged monopolization of the Google Play Store seek “a relatively modest” non-monetary remedy in the form of an “adverse inference instruction” to the jury to sanction Google for failing to preserve evidentiary messages on its internal chat system, said their proposal Thursday (docket 3:21-cv-05227) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco.
Plaintiff Sue Harmon sues under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act to hold Lenovo accountable for the smart clock with the defective LED screen she bought from Amazon (see 2305150043), but she doesn’t identify any false representations by Lenovo "that the smart clock’s display would never malfunction or potentially need repairs,” said Lenovo’s motion to dismiss Thursday (docket 3:23-cv-01643) in U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois in East St. Louis. Harmon doesn’t claim “that she ever contacted the third-party seller or Lenovo to seek repairs or replacement,” it said. “Instead, she filed a class action lawsuit,” it said. It’s “a fact of life” that electronics products “may break and need to be fixed,” said Lenovo. In the absence of a promise that a feature would always work, which Harmon doesn’t allege that Lenovo or anyone else made to her, a malfunction can’t “give rise to a consumer fraud claim,” it said. Federal judges have told Harmon’s attorneys at Sheehan & Associates “time and again that the types of allegations pleaded here simply do not state a valid claim upon which courts may grant relief,” it said. Harmon’s complaint includes several causes of action that Illinois courts “have rejected universally” when those attorneys have pleaded them, it said. The business of Sheehan & Associates “is to file putative class actions with unsupportable theories and hope defendants will pay the firm to avoid the costs of moving to dismiss,” said Lenovo. Harmon’s complaint is the fourth that Sheehan & Associates has filed against Lenovo since November, none of which have had merit, it said. Each time Sheehan & Associates has attempted claims involving electronics products, its claims “have never survived a motion to dismiss,” it said. The court should dismiss Harmon’s complaint against Lenovo in its entirety, it said. The court also should consider an order requiring Sheehan & Associates to show cause why the firm shouldn’t be sanctioned “for abuse of the court system and the class action device,” it said. The law firm didn't respond to email requests for comment Friday.
Nexstar must produce documents connected with DOJ’s investigations into broadcaster price collusion and the failed Sinclair/Tribune deal, ruled U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago Judge Virginia Kendall last week. In a related but separate order, she said Griffin Communications will be penalized for allowing evidence connected to those matters to be deleted. The rulings are the latest in a long-running antitrust lawsuit brought against numerous broadcasters by advertisers, all stemming from the 2018 DOJ investigation of broadcasters exchanging advertising pacing data that arose from federal inquiries into Sinclair's failed buy of Tribune. Kendall’s ruling compels Nexstar to produce any white papers it or its subsidiaries submitted to DOJ for the pacing and acquisition investigations. Nexstar had asked the court to deny motions to compel such evidence as untimely and outside an agreement between Nexstar and the plaintiffs (see 2306070044, but Kendall ruled Nexstar’s answers to evidence requests was “evasive.” Nexstar “continues to avoid stating outright whether any of its entities submitted whitepapers to the DOJ in connection with the Merger Investigation,” wrote Kendall. “Considering Plaintiffs’ multiple queries about this discoverable information, Nexstar Group has failed to sufficiently respond and must do so now.” Kendall also ruled Griffin Communications was responsible for evidence “spoliation” because Griffin President Rob Krier deleted numerous text messages for years after DOJ notified the company it was under investigation and records must be preserved. Testimony from Krier and other Griffin employees “suggests negligence (perhaps even gross negligence) rather than intent to conceal adverse information,” the judge wrote. “By all accounts, Krier was simply inept at technology.” The judge also blasted the inadequacy of Griffin’s IT department and a lack of attorney oversight. “Griffin is a sophisticated enough corporate entity that the lack of documented attorney involvement in and oversight of a significant litigation hold is baffling,” Griffin must pay up to one third of the fees associated with the plaintiff's motion calling for sanctions against Griffin, Kendall ruled.
Montana’s statewide TikTok ban, SB-419, “exercises Montana’s consumer-protection power to stop a host of data-privacy and related harms by prohibiting TikTok from operating in Montana,” said Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s (R) memorandum Friday (docket 9:23-cv-00061) in U.S. District Court for Montana in Missoula in opposition to the plaintiffs’ consolidated motion for a preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs are a group of TikTok users and influencers (see 2305190035), plus TikTok itself (see 2305230053), all seeking to block Knudsen from enforcing SB-419 starting Jan. 1.
Medical Financial Solutions, a collector of medical debt for third-party service providers, violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when it began “pounding” Canyon, Texas, consumer Raymond Reynolds with calls to collect a debt he incurred from an emergency room visit to a local hospital, alleged Reynolds’ class action Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-00135) in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Amarillo. His requests that the collection calls cease “fell on deaf ears,” and the company continued placing “harassing” collection calls to his cellphone, said the complaint, which also alleged violations of the Texas Debt Collection Act. It was clear the voicemails the company left used artificial or prerecorded voice because all were “monotone” and were “conspicuously not left by a live representative,” it said. Reynolds estimates the company placed “dozens” of prerecorded collection calls to his cellphone after he requested that the calls cease, it said. The robocalls invaded Reynolds’ privacy and caused him concrete harm, including the “aggravation that accompanies unwanted robocalls,” it said.
The “majority view” among the appellate courts requires “consideration of the economies of scale when addressing attorneys’ fees awarded in class action settlements exceeding $100 million,” said the statement of issues filed Monday (docket 23-2744) in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by objector-appellant Cassie Hampe. She’s pursuing the appeal to protest what she argues are “windfall” attorneys’ fees doled out in the class settlement in the 47-case multidistrict litigation arising from T-Mobile’s 2021 data breach.
The several Computer & Communications Industry Association members “directly regulated” by Montana’s TikTok ban (SB-419) will have their “core First Amendment rights” infringed unless the law is enjoined, said the association’s amicus brief Thursday (docket 9:23-cv-00056) in U.S. District Court for Montana in Missoula. CCIA filed the brief in support of the preliminary injunction the plaintiffs seek to block Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) from enforcing SB-419 when it takes effect Jan. 1.