Office Depot removed to U.S. District Court for Northern Oklahoma in Tulsa a class action filed May 24 in Tulsa County District Court in which plaintiff Teresa Brown alleges the retailer unlawfully sends telemarketing text messages to numerous individuals in violation of the Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act (OTSA) that was enacted last year. Office Depot denies it has any liability to Brown or the class she seeks to represent, and denies she or the putative class members are entitled to recover the relief requested, said its notice of removal Wednesday (docket 4:23-cv-00287).
The FTC will appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday’s decision by the U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco to deny the agency’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buy from proceeding to its completion, said the agency’s notice of appeal Wednesday (docket 3:23-cv-02880). The appeal was docketed Thursday as case number 23-15992.
U.S. District Judge John Kness for Northern Illinois in Chicago used a telephone motion hearing Wednesday to orally deny State Farm’s Jan. 6 motion to dismiss plaintiff Thomas Gebka’s Dec. 23 amended Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action for failure to state a claim and for lack of Article III standing (see 2301090024). Kness was unpersuaded by State Farm’s arguments that Gebka failed to allege the insurer was vicariously liable for the telemarketing calls Gebka received from State Farm agents, said the judge. He also was unswayed by State Farm’s assertions that Gebka failed to allege any connections between State Farm and the calls, he said. “Under the TCPA, it’s well established that a principal may be held vicariously liable for its agents’ violations of the statute,” said Kness. “At this early stage, relatively, of the litigation, the plaintiff is not required to plead the specifics of the defendant’s business relationships,” said the judge. “Rather, the plaintiff only has to allege a factual basis that gives rise to an inference of an agency relationship,” he said. “I do think the plaintiff has alleged sufficient facts to create a basis for vicarious liability,” he said. “The plaintiff has adequately alleged that the defendant authorized its agencies to appoint sub-agents for telemarketing services,” he said. “I will add that given that the plaintiff was contacted by State Farm agencies within the hour of receiving those telemarketing calls, that could give rise, it does give rise, to a plausible inference that the telemarketing calls were connected to, and of behalf of, the defendant,” he said. “These are only allegations,” said the judge. “They may turn out to be all wet later, like the weather is today, but for now, the tie goes to the runner,” he said. “The plaintiff has the better of the argument here,” he said. Kness dismissed as moot State Farm’s motion to stay or phase discovery in the case, pending the resolution of its motion to dismiss. “We need to move the case forward,” said the judge, ordering the parties to meet and confer on a joint case management report to be filed by July 28. He plans to appoint a magistrate judge to supervise discovery, he said.
Plaintiff Jane Doe’s May 15 class action “raises understandable concerns about nefarious companies” that steal sensitive user data, and then profit from selling or sharing that data, said Qualtrics’ motion Monday (docket 2:23-cv-00718) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle to dismiss her complaint for failure to state a claim. But her concerns “don’t apply to Qualtrics, as her own complaint demonstrates,” said the motion.
The complaint from Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) alleging TikTok is violating the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by duping Arkansas citizens about the risks of using TikTok belongs back in Union County Circuit Court, said Griffin’s reply brief Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-01038) in U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas in El Dorado in support of his motion to remand (see 2306090047). The case originated in the circuit court before TikTok removed it to federal court.
The FCC’s July 3 opposition to Gerald Parks' March 22 mandamus petition wrongly argues that the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit lacks jurisdiction to grant Parks his requested relief because the FCC’s Media Bureau canceled his license for AM radio broadcast station WEKC Williamsburg, Kentucky, in August 2020 (see 2307050035), said Parks’ reply Tuesday (docket 23-1078). But Parks' license remains very much in effect while his 2012 renewal application remains pending, said the reply.
Chestnut Ridge, New York, about 30 miles northwest of midtown Manhattan, violated Section 704 of the Communications Act through its “unreasonable and unsupportable denials” of T-Mobile’s applications to build a 105-foot monopole cell tower, alleged the carrier’s complaint Friday (docket 7:23-cv-05852) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in White Plains. The eight-count complaint seeks a finding that the denials were illegal because they weren’t based on substantial evidence contained in the written record, plus an order mandating that the village “immediately issue T-Mobile all necessary permits and authorizations.”
One of the “central prerogatives” of the president and executive branch officials is to speak to members of the U.S. public, including American companies, “about how they can help mitigate threats,” said DOJ’s emergency motion Monday (docket 23-30445) at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the preliminary injunction that bars Biden administration officials from conversing with social media companies for the purposes of moderating content (see 2307100045). The plaintiffs, including the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, oppose the emergency motion, said DOJ.
Government efforts to restrict minors from accessing online content “have repeatedly been struck down,” especially when they impede the First Amendment rights of adults as well, and Arkansas' social media age verification law “should meet the same fate,” said NetChoice. It filed a memorandum Friday (docket 5:23-cv-05105) in U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas in Fayetteville in support of its motion for a preliminary injunction to block Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) from enforcing the measure when it takes effect Sept. 1 (see 2306300001).
Saying the First Amendment free speech rights of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against dozens of Biden defendant administration officials “by far” outweigh the defendants’ "interests," U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty for Western Louisiana in Monroe denied DOJ’s motion to stay his July 4 injunction or alternatively for a seven-day administrative stay. The injunction bars the officials from "engaging in any communication of any kind” with social-media companies for the purpose of suppressing right-leaning content that constitutes protected free speech.