AT&T denies the allegations it barred Legacy Equity Advisors from acquiring divested AT&T assets like Cricket Wireless and DirecTV because the private equity firm is African American-owned and -operated (see 2305040065), emailed an AT&T spokesperson Thursday. AT&T “will vigorously defend ourselves in court,” said the spokesperson: “We do not discriminate, nor do we tolerate discrimination of any kind, and any suggestion that we do is just wrong.”
The arbitration agreement that's grounds for Samsung’s April 11 motion to compel (see 2304120020) isn’t “valid,” said plaintiff Tiffany McDougall’s memorandum of law in opposition Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan (docket 1:23-cv-00168). McDougall alleges Samsung misrepresented the storage capacity of her Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone, and Samsung asserts her claims “must be resolved through arbitration” under the terms and conditions she agreed to when she bought the device.
The Republican Committee of Chester County (RCCC), Pennsylvania, a defendant in plaintiff Mark Fidanza’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action (see 2212280028), names itself the “third-party plaintiff” in a new complaint that now seeks to hold Twilio and Onvoy liable for the barrage of unlawful texts sent to Fidanza in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Fidanza alleges his cellphone was inundated with 17 RCCC text messages between Oct. 19 and Election Day Nov. 8.
Amazon denies plaintiff Jennifer Holt’s allegations it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act or that she or members of her putative class “are entitled to any relief,” said its answer Wednesday (docket 6:23-cv-00104) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Oklahoma in Muskogee to Holt’s March 23 class action (see 2303230066).
A private equity firm is accusing AT&T of not viewing it “as a serious or qualified buyer because of its African American ownership and management.”
Plaintiff Antonio Lewis’ putative class action alleging Samsung duped consumers into believing its Galaxy Z Fold3 foldable smartphone was more durable than it really was should be dismissed and his claims should be sent to an arbitrator, said Samsung’s memorandum Monday (docket 1:22-cv-10882) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in support of its motion to compel arbitration. Lewis’ opposition to the motion is due June 15 (see 2303150020).
The 9th Circuit’s wrongful decision affirming the district court’s summary judgment for Apple, based on federal law preemption of state-law cellphone RF safety claims, embraces a version of preemption in which the preemptive effect of an agency’s order “turns not on Congress’s intent or the statutory or regulatory text, but instead on a freewheeling judicial hunt for purposes in informal agency commentary.” So said two dozen iPhone owners’ U.S. Supreme Court reply brief Monday (docket 22-698) in support of their Jan. 23 cert petition to set aside the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision (see 2301270065).
Two class actions filed Friday allege loanDepot sent telemarketing texts or made calls using artificial or prerecorded voice messages without consent to cellphone numbers listed for long periods of time on the national do not call registry, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Court records show they were the 25th and 26th TCPA actions filed against the home mortgage lender since March 2014.
All 28 plaintiffs in the Feb. 27 class action accusing Verizon of “bait-and-switch” wrongdoing “agreed to arbitrate their claims against Verizon on a non-class basis,” said Verizon’s motion Friday (docket 3:23-cv-01138) in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Trenton to compel their disputes to arbitration. The plaintiffs allege Verizon pads customers’ monthly bills with a $3.30-per-line “administrative charge” that isn’t disclosed either before or when they agree to buy wireless service from Verizon.
Southern Power wants the U.S. District Court for Middle Alabama in Montgomery to dismiss Lee Cunningham’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint as “impermissibly frivolous,” said its motion Thursday (docket 2:22-cv-00621). Southern Power moves alternatively for summary judgment because “the undisputed facts show that Southern Power is entitled to judgment as a matter of law,” it said.