The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled a dial-in mediation assessment conference July 13 at 10 a.m. PDT in the long-running case that plaintiff-appellant Narciso Fuentes brought against Dish Network, said an order Tuesday (docket 23-15865). Fuentes seeks to reverse the district court’s denial of his motion to remand his case to California Superior Court where it originated in March 2016 (see 2306130017). The case arose out of Dish’s alleged failure to provide cancellation rights disclosures and Spanish-language contracts in connection with the satellite television service agreements it was selling in California. The monolingual Spanish-speaking Fuentes was a Dish customer when his lawsuit was filed, but he ceased being one in August 2017 and hasn’t subscribed since. That left him with lack of Article III standing to pursue public injunctive relief against Dish in federal court.
A third-party Amazon seller's petition to vacate a $461,000 arbitration award in Amazon’s favor should be remanded to New York Supreme Court where it originated before Amazon removed it June 9 (see 2306130004), the seller, Longyan Junkai Information Technology, said Monday. It’s undisputed that Amazon deactivated Longyan’s online store and seized the $461,000 in sales proceeds based on allegations that Longyan was selling counterfeit goods, said its remand motion (docket 1:23-cv-04869) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. The award should be vacated “for completely irrational and manifest disregard of law,” said the remand motion. Amazon “failed its burden to establish” that the Southern District of New York “has subject matter jurisdiction over this case,” it said. A federal court’s subject-matter jurisdiction “can be established through either diversity jurisdiction or federal question jurisdiction,” but Amazon failed to establish either, it said.
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the following lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions:
Contrary to what the U.S. Bankruptcy Court decided, SES and Intelsat's C-Band Alliance agreement "is certainly not a model of clarity," U.S. District Judge Robert Payne for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled Friday as he reversed the Bankruptcy Court's denial of SES' $421 million claim against Intelsat for the collapse of the CBA. In his 57-page decision Friday (docket 3:22-cv-00668),Payne remanded the case to Bankruptcy Court. SES sought damages from the CBA's collapse as part of Intelsat's now-concluded Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see 2007140029). At oral argument in March, Payne was critical of the CBA agreement (see 2303200062).
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a 2024 Democratic presidential hopeful, sought support for his battle against social media censorship, in a Saturday tweet, asking followers whether platforms should “censor presidential candidates” after YouTube pulled his June 5 interview with Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson. Kennedy is suing his rival, President Joe Biden, and numerous federal government agencies and officials for a “censorship campaign” (see related story, this issue). Kennedy's complaint, filed in April with anti-vaccine organization Children's Health Defense, alleges the federal government is responsible for “online suppression of any reporting” suggesting that COVID-19 may have originated in a Chinese government laboratory in Wuhan or “facts and opinions about the COVID vaccines that might lead people to become ‘hesitant’ about COVID vaccine mandates,” says the complaint. Among the topics in the 95-minute interview is a discussion about drug companies and vaccines. Google said the podcast was removed for violating YouTube’s terms of service on vaccine misinformation. “Maybe you can help me figure out what 'misinformation' was in this interview," tweeted the candidate, with the hashtag “letRFKspeak.”
Plaintiffs in a fraud complaint against HP chose not to file an amended complaint, and HP intends to move to dismiss the original complaint, said an amended stipulation (docket 4:23-cv-02114) Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Northern California in Oakland. Plaintiffs Justin Davis and Gary Davis sued HP in May over defective trackpads in their HP Omen laptops that allegedly render the computers “completely unusable” without an external mouse. HP’s motion to dismiss is set for hearing on Aug. 15.
“Countless” user accounts of Atomic Wallet, the cryptocurrency exchange platform, were hacked June 3, resulting in the loss of more than $100 million in global crypto assets, alleged a negligence class action Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-01582) in U.S. District Court for Colorado in Denver. The company and founder-CEO Konstantin Gladych knew of existing “security vulnerabilities” since at least as early as 2022, “but failed to take necessary security measures or precautions to protect user data and funds,” it said.
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the following lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions:
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals docketed the appeal Monday (docket 23-15865) of plaintiff-appellant Narciso Fuentes in his seven-year legal fight against Dish Network. Fuentes is seeking to reverse the U.S. District Court for Northern California’s denial of his motion to remand the case to California Superior Court where it originated in March 2016. Fuentes' opening brief is due Sept. 18, with Dish's answering brief due Oct. 17, said a time schedule order. The case arose out of Dish’s failure to provide cancellation rights disclosures and Spanish language contracts in connection with its satellite television service agreements. The monolingual Spanish-speaking Fuentes was a Dish customer when his lawsuit was filed. But he ceased being one in August 2017 and hasn’t subscribed since. That left him with lack of Article III standing to pursue public injunctive relief against Dish in federal court. The injunctive relief Fuentes seeks under California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law would enjoin Dish from future disclosure failures when marketing its services to Spanish-speaking consumers in California.
Amazon removed to U.S. District Court for Southern New York from New York Supreme Court the May 12 petition of third-party seller Longyan Junkai Information Technology to vacate a $461,000 arbitration award decided in Amazon’s favor, said its notice of removal Friday (docket 1:23-cv-04869). The contested money includes sales proceeds that Amazon refused to disperse to Longyan Junkai after discovering it was selling counterfeit goods on the Amazon store, it said.