T-Mobile Seeks Judgment in Conspiracy Case, Says Case Should Be Dismissed

Defendant T-Mobile moved for judgment on the pleadings in Craigsville Telephone’s and Consolidated Telephone’s conspiracy suit, which claims T-Mobile inserted fake local ring back tones (LRBT) instead of connecting calls to rural areas with expensive routing fees. In a Friday motion (docket 1:19-cv-7190) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago, T-Mobile asserted the plaintiffs failed to state a cognizable civil conspiracy claim under state law and that claims for damages should be dismissed. Three of the remaining claims in the case against T-Mobile allege it violated the Communications Act and the fourth – a civil conspiracy claim against T-Mobile and Inteliquent -- alleges the companies “engaged in a scheme to perpetrate call connection issues” for calls originating from cell phones and terminating at landline phones in certain rural locations. The court determined that under Minnesota or Indiana state law, the alleged Communications Act violations don't provide the predicate tort or criminal acts required to state a conspiracy claim, absolving Inteliquent of the civil conspiracy count against it (see 2302100007). The court’s reasoning should be applied to the claim against T-Mobile as well, said T-Mobile’s Friday memorandum of law in support of its motion to dismiss. Without a “cognizable conspiracy claim,” plaintiffs have no claim for which punitive damages may be awarded, and those claims should be dismissed, too, it said. Courts that considered similar claims “have concluded that punitive damages are not available for a Communications Act violation,” said the memo.