U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt for Central California in Los Angeles granted T-Mobile’s motion to dismiss Hyperlync Technologies’ breach of contract complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction, said Kronstadt’s order Thursday (docket 2:23-cv-00734). Hyperlync alleged in a Jan. 31 class action that T-Mobile walked away from its agreements with Sprint to develop a cloud storage product called “Unlimited Cloud” after it completed the Sprint buy in April 2020 (see 2302020061). The order said Hyperlync failed to meet its burden of showing its claims arise out of T-Mobile’s activities in California. Hyperlync hasn’t shown its claims “arise out of or relate to the contacts that T-Mobile has with California,” nor did it allege the parties’ agreement was negotiated in California, it said: “If such was the case, Hyperlync’s claim would have arisen even if T-Mobile did not have stores, employees or business in California.”

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero for Southern New York denied the motion of defendants Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to delay their Aug. 7 jury trial to October for their roles in the robocall campaign to suppress Black citizens' mail-in votes in the 2020 election, said his signed order Friday (docket 1:20-cv-08668). The plaintiffs opposed the adjournment request (see 2306020003). Marrero previously granted summary judgment against Wohl and Burkman (see 2303090003), and a jury will decide on the scope of relief sought, including damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. “The parties are directed to be prepared to proceed as scheduled” Aug. 7 for a one-week jury trial on remedies, with a final pretrial conference set for Aug. 4 at 10:30 a.m., said the judge’s Friday order.

Comcast and MaxLinear appear to have reached a temporary truce over MaxLinear’s decision to terminate the parties’ contracts to support millions of broadband gateways used to provide internet service to Comcast customers (see 2305300045), said a stipulation Friday (docket 1:23-cv-04436) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. Comcast agreed to withdraw its request for a temporary restraining order in return for MaxLinear’s commitment to perform all of its contractual services and obligations, “in a timely manner and without qualification,” it said. MaxLinear’s commitments will continue until Aug. 16, when its 90-day termination notice to Comcast expires, or for 30 days after the court resolves Comcast’s application for a preliminary injunction, whichever is later, said the stipulation.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman for their roles in the robocall campaign to suppress Black citizens' mail-in votes in the 2020 election oppose the defendants’ request for a delay in the damages jury trial to October from the trial’s currently scheduled Aug. 7 start date (see 2304240007), they wrote U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in a letter Thursday (docket 1:20-cv-08668). Marrero previously granted summary judgment against Wohl and Burkman (see 2303090003), and a jury will decide on the scope of relief sought, including damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. Wohl’s criminal trial in California, on which he bases his request for an adjournment, “has been calendared for trial six different times since April 2022,” they said. “Given the number of times his trial has been rescheduled, it is not certain that the July 17 trial date will hold,” they said. Wohl also hasn’t committed to Marrero that he plans to be present during the New York trial, so it’s “unclear whether there is a meaningful scheduling conflict,” they said. Defense counsel claims the plaintiffs will suffer no prejudice from the requested adjournment are wrong, said the plaintiffs. Moving the trial to the fall “would disrupt their various schedules,” they said. If Marrero is inclined to postpone the trial, the plaintiffs ask for a Sept. 5 start date, they said.

Attorneys for plaintiff DOJ and defendants Netlatitude and Kurt Hannigan filed a joint motion (docket 3:23-cv-00313) for entry of a stipulated order for permanent injunction, monetary judgment and other relief in a Telemarketing Sales Rule suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego. Entry of the order will fully resolve the litigation between DOJ and defendants Netlatitude and Hannigan. DOJ’s February complaint on the FTC’s behalf aimed to stop a network of companies and individuals allegedly responsible for delivering “tens of millions" of unwanted VoIP and ringless voicemail (RVM) phone debt service robocalls to consumers nationwide (see 2302170032). Stratics’ outbound calling service enabled its clients to transmit millions of robocalls using VoIP, alleged the complaint. From 2013 to 2020, Stratics sold its wholesale SIP service to other VoIP service companies, including defendants Netlatitude and its owner Kurt Hannigan, and “many others,” it said. Stratics also sold access to its platform delivering RVM, a call that goes to consumers' voicemail without ringing their phone, the FTC said. Netlatitude used Stratics’ wholesale SIP termination services to operate its RVM service, which it later sold to a foreign telemarketer of debt relief services, it said. In late May, U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Bashant granted Atlas defendants their motions for extension of time to respond to the complaint, giving a Wednesday deadline. Stratics Networks’ response was extended from May 17 to June 20. One set of defendants, Kasm and its owner Kenan Azzeh, agreed to settle the complaint. A Feb. 23 stipulated order enjoined those defendants from promoting or offering for sale any debt relief service and imposed a $3.4 million judgment against the defendants as monetary relief. They were ordered to pay the FTC $7,500 to be used for consumer redress.

MaxLinear opposes Comcast’s request in its “midnight filing” for a temporary restraining order to assure it continues receiving service from MaxLinear under the parties’ contracts to support millions of broadband gateways used to provide internet service to Comcast customers (see 2305300045), the chipmaker wrote U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres for Southern New York in a letter Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-04436). The TRO is “unnecessary” because MaxLinear already agreed to provide Comcast its contractual services, effective for 90 days from its May 18 letter terminating those contracts, it said. Comcast hasn’t identified “any specific service” that it hasn’t received or won’t receive, it said: “Any request for emergency relief is thus premature and should be denied.” MaxLinear has repeatedly made clear to Comcast that it will continue to provide services to Comcast as it did before the May 18 termination notice, “thus maintaining the status quo and obviating the need for a TRO,” it said. “That assurance has come from its executives, its counsel, and now again in this letter,” it said. Though the parties may have a dispute about their contractual relationship, “those issues can be sorted in the normal course of litigation, and don’t “come close to warranting emergency relief” from the court, it said. Despite its “lengthy pleadings,” Comcast doesn’t -- because it can’t -- “identify a single service or support that MaxLinear has stopped providing, that MaxLinear has threatened not to provide, or that falls outside the scope of what MaxLinear has already committed to provide through mid-August,” it said.

Plaintiff Robert Graham’s claims that defendants AT&T and American Express charged him unauthorized fees for his phone upgrade are subject to the arbitration agreements he consented to when he opened his Delta SkyMiles Reserve card account in 2015, said American Express’ motion to compel arbitration Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-05155) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta. The arbitration agreement “broadly encompasses any claim, dispute or controversy” about the account and Graham “asserts claims relating to purported improper charges” on the account for an AT&T service, said the motion. By the “express terms” of the agreement, “any such controversy must be resolved in arbitration rather than before this Court,” it said. The motion also asks the court to stay Graham’s action pending the outcome of that arbitration. Under the Federal Arbitration Act, agreements to arbitrate “are presumed to be valid and enforceable according to their terms,” said the motion. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a series of decisions, “has repeatedly confirmed that the FAA strongly favors the validity and enforceability of arbitration agreements and that the terms of such agreements must be vigorously enforced,” it said. American Express previously telegraphed its plans to compel Graham’s dispute to arbitration (see Ref:2304100009]). Co-defendant AT&T similarly asserted in March that Graham agreed to a “broad arbitration provision” when he renewed his contract with AT&T in October 2018 to upgrade his phone (see 2303130002).

Plaintiff Miranda Bennett reached a settlement of her Fair Credit Reporting Act claims against defendant TransUnion, said her notice Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-00091) in U.S. District Court for Southern Alabama in Selma. Bennett previously reached a settlement of her claims against defendant Spring Oaks Capital, which provides consumer credit information to consumer reporting agencies, but her claims against the remaining defendants, including Verizon, remain pending, said the notice. Bennett alleges she was victimized by inaccurate credit reporting when a fraudulent Verizon account was left to fester on her credit profile, and Verizon and the credit agencies did nothing to investigate it or remove it (see 2303160051).

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman for Northern Illinois in Chicago signed an order Tuesday (docket 1:19-cv-07190) granting T-Mobile’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in the fake ring back tones civil conspiracy case brought by Craigville Telephone and Consolidated Telephone (see 2304190050). The judge also denied the plaintiffs’ request for leave to amend their complaint to cure its civil conspiracy deficiencies. The plaintiffs haven’t shown how discovery to date or future discovery “would alter the choice of law analysis in this case, suggesting amendment would be futile,” said her order. Craigville and Consolidated alleged T-Mobile conspired to insert fake local ring back tones instead of connecting calls to rural areas with expensive routing fees.

Seven school district lawsuits against social media companies were added to the Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (docket 4:22-md-3047) assigned to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, said notices Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Northern California in Oakland. The seven related cases allege Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube created a “youth mental health crisis” in the U.S. and claim public nuisance and negligence against the parent companies. Over 300 similar school district cases, in various states of transfer, comprise the member list of the MDL.