A New York appellate court denied Sprint’s request to...

A New York appellate court denied Sprint’s request to throw out state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s $400 million lawsuit against the company for allegedly undercollecting and underpaying state and local sales taxes. Brought under the New York False Claims Act, Schneiderman’s suit would require Sprint to pay three times its approximately $130 million underpayment, said the AG’s office in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1hCjeF2). Sprint had sought a dismissal of the suit, saying the AG hadn’t adequately shown that the carrier knowingly violated the tax law and that the company could not be held liable for conduct before the 2010 passage of the False Claims Act. Thursday’s decision by a five-judge panel in a New York appellate court upheld state Supreme Court Justice Peter Sherwood’s July decision to deny Sprint’s petition.