T-Mobile Motion Is Denied to Transfer Sprint Buy Class Action to SDNY

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin in Chicago on Friday denied T-Mobile’s motion to transfer the class action challenging its Sprint buy as anticompetitive to the same Southern District of New York court that cleared the transaction in early 2020. Durkin on Tuesday set a telephone status hearing for Oct. 21 at 9:45 a.m. CDT.

T-Mobile contended that the case belongs back in New York because it has the closest connection to the events surrounding the transaction and is more convenient than Chicago in other relevant ways. But Durkin agreed with the plaintiffs that the focus of where the case should be tried “should not be on the merger itself, or the prior litigation surrounding it, because this suit really arises from the alleged anticompetitive conduct that took place afterward,” said his memorandum opinion and order (docket 1:22-cv-03189).

“Discouraging forum-shopping is undoubtedly a concern when weighing a transfer motion,” said Durkin. “It is hard to deny that T-Mobile’s request to transfer this case to SDNY at least creates the appearance of forum shopping, given that any purported efficiency gain in that district is speculative and it is not T-Mobile’s home district.”

Durkin “cannot say that SDNY’s potential familiarity with the subject matter of this case favors transfer, and this factor overall counsels against granting T-Mobile’s motion,” he said. T-Mobile didn’t comment Tuesday. Seven consumers brought the suit in mid-June purporting to represent a nationwide class of AT&T and Verizon, whose rates, they say, went up post-acquisition.