| In SDNY T-Mobile and Sprint Trial
Starts With Sealed Letter and Free Lunch For
Corporate Counsel
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 9 – After more states
lining up against the proposed
T-Mobile / Sprint merger, on
which a two week trial to
begin December 9 before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Victor
Marrero. Inner
City Press
began what
will be a
trial-long
live-tweet, here.
Judge
Marrero began
by saying that
opening
statements are
unnecessary,
asking, Are
they for me?
For the
witnesses?
Then the first
witness was
not here and
they took a
break. Inner
City Press
checked out
"overflow"
room 15B -
corporate
lawyers
everywhere.
The
plaintiffs /
States play a
mobile plan
advertisement,
very loud. Now
presents press
release "after
Project
Samurai was
gone." Q: So
Project
Samurai put
significant
pressure on
T-Mobile? A:
Well, we
retired the
plan. Q: But
only after
extending
it...
Q:
So T-Mobile
responded to
Project
Samurai with
its Metro
pre-paid,
right?
A:
In 2015? I'm
not sure. They
cannot know
what T-Mobile
is really
thinking. They
assume. Q: Let
me show you
this
Competitive
Alert...
Outside
overflow
courtroom 15B,
full of a
corporate
lawyers, they
put out a
lunch spread
not seen
before in SDNY
hallways.
Money talks.
But what about
the merger?
The docket
does not say
much. Other
than an order
allowing the
lawyers to
bring into
court their
laptops, the
last letter
was filed
entirely under
seal,
here.
Inner City
Press will
have more on
this, and on
the CEO
witnesses when
they appear.
More on
Patreon here.
Back
on December a
final
pre-trial
conference was
held.
Inner
City Press was
there, and
will cover the
trial. On
December 6 the
plaintiff
states' lawyer
Glenn D.
Pomerantz
dominated the
conference,
going through
each of the
four points in
his letter to
Judge Merrero
and more.
T-Mobile or
Deutsche
Telekom's
lawyer David
I. Gelfan of
Cleary
Gottlieb
wanted more
than 50% of
the time
alloted. Judge
Marrero shot
that down,
saying that to
him equitable
means cut in
half. Judge
Marrero
largely tried
to avoid the
disputes,
urging the
lawyers to
settle their
conflicts and
try their
cases.
Where
Judge Marrero
drew the line
was on timing
and exhibits.
He still aims
at a two week
bench trial,
saying he's
willing to go
to six pm to
accomplish
that. He urged
exhibits to be
agreed in
advance. He
said one of
the questions
will be
DISH.
There will be
a Comcast
witness. Inner
City Press
will cover the
trial. The
case is State
of New York,
et al., v.
Deutsche
Telekom AG, et
al.,
19-cv-5434
(Marrero).
Judge Marrero
began a June
21 conference
in NYS v.
Deutsche
Telekom by
disclosing a
number of
conflict of
interest. He
was a director
of NY
Telephone
Company from
1988 through
1992 and
received a
pension from
Verizon. It is
fully vested,
he said, and
so not
impacted by
the case. He
has two law
clerks
affiliated
with law firms
in the case,
Wilmer Cutler
and Cleary
Gottlieb. They
are recused,
in favor of
two summer
interns.
Joining the
suit were
Hawaii,
Massachusetts,
Minnesota and
Nevada.
Because
Marrero led
with it and
the corporate
and California
lawyers
followed up,
Inner City
Press would be
remiss not to
note the joke
about the
lawyers'
names, Paula
Blizzard of
California and
Steve Sunshine
for the
merger.
Alongside his
height joke,
Sunshine
slipped in
that the DOJ
deal is
imminent.
But now in
December 2019,
will the
weather be
more
anti-corporate?
Watch this
site.
***
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