T-Mobile Faces Lawsuit Seeking Billions Over Its Sprint Merger, Court Rules

By FrumNews.com

Chicago — In a key ruling, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that T-Mobile must face a proposed consumer class-action lawsuit challenging its recent $26 billion purchase of rival Sprint in 2020, as reported by Reuters.

The plaintiffs, who are Verizon and AT&T customers, are suing the telecom giant. They argue that the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint has negatively impacted them by increasing service prices on other networks. They are seeking billions of dollars in damages and aim to have the merger undone through the court system.

T-Mobile sought to appeal the ruling now rather than waiting for the case to play out in the lower court. In March, a trial judge granted the request, but the 7th Circuit declined on Thursday to hear the case immediately, sending it back to the lower court.

In a brief order, the court denied T-Mobile’s request to appeal a lower court decision that said the plaintiffs have legal “standing” to pursue their claims that the T-Mobile-Sprint merger drove up prices for customers, including those subscribed to Verizon and AT&T.

T-Mobile contends that these plaintiffs, being customers of its competitors (Verizon and AT&T), should not have the standing to sue. Despite this contention, the lawsuit will proceed in the lower court.

Brendan Glackin, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, welcomed the appeals court’s ruling, saying, “We look forward to developing the record and trying the case to a jury in Chicago.”

According to Reuters, the appeals court on Thursday called the issue of “standing” as a legal question “subject to substantial disagreement.”