DOJ Seeks to Seal Information in T-Mobile/Sprint; Judge Won't Admit Some Testimony

that the Munger Tolles lawyer had access to when he represented the U.S. in litigation over the failed AT&T/T-Mobile. DOJ said it went to Pomerantz before asking the court, but he refused their proposals. “Amending the protective order here is necessary to protect the United States’ confidential information, and will do so with no effect on the parties’ trial preparation or resources,” DOJ said. “Allowing the confidential information of a cooperating third party in a prior investigation to be used in a later lawsuit could seriously chill third parties’ participation in future investigations.” Judge Victor Marrero ruled (in Pacer) Monday that foreign market studies and testimony about T-Mobile/Sprint won’t be allowed in trial. “The Court finds that the relevance of wireless services mergers in foreign markets is dubious at best,” Marrero wrote. “Numerous salient factors, including market structure, consumer demographics, regulatory frameworks, and infrastructure may differ significantly and likely yield only an apples-to-orange comparison.” Consideration also would delay trial, he said. Marrero also excluded University of California, Berkeley professor Carl Shapiro's opinion reviewing changes in AT&T and Verizon stock prices shortly before and after big news on the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. That opinion doesn’t rely on enough factors or data, Marrero said. “The Court is skeptical of the reliability of an opinion that extrapolates the likelihood of anticompetitive effects from between five to seven discrete news articles covering a period of well over a year.” Marrero deferred until trial whether to admit testimony by Santa Clara University law professor Catherine Sandoval on FCC procedures.