Judd v Att Wa Df Response to Settlement Proposal 2013
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Honorable Beth M. Andrus Noted for Consideration: April 1,2013 Without Oral Argument 1 2 3 4 5 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR KING COUNTY 6 7 8 9 SANDY JUDD, TARA HERIVEL, and COLUMBIA LEGAL SERVICES, for themselves, and on behalf of all similarly situated persons, 10 11 12 13 Plaintiffs, v, AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, and T-NETIX, INC., Defendants. 14 Case No. 00-2-17565-5 SEA AT&T'S RESPONSE TO THE INTERLATA AND INTRALATA CLASSES' REVISED MOTION FOR: (1) PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH AT&T; (2) PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF PLAN OF ALLOCATION; (3) DIRECTIVE TO SEND NOTICE; AND (4) SCHEDULING OF FINAL APPROVAL HEARING 15 Of counsel: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Charles H.R. Peters David C. Scott Brian L. J osias SCHIFF HARDIN LLP 233 S. Wacker Dr. Suite 6600 Chicago, IL 60606 (312) 258-5500 (312) 258-5600 (fax) Kelly Twiss Noonan (WSBA #19096) Bradford J. Axel (WSBA #29269) STOKES AND LAWRENCE, P.S. 1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3000 Seattle, Washington 98101 (206) 626-6000 (206) 464-1496 (fax) Charles W. Douglas David W. Carpenter David F. Graham SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP One South Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 853-7000 (312) 853-7036 (fax) 25 Dated: March 29,2013 26 AT&T'S RESPONSE TO THE INTERLATA AND INTRALATA CLASSES' REVISED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH AT&T, ETC. STOKES LAWRENCE, P.S. 1420 FIFTH AVENUE SUITE 3000 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101-2393 (206) 626-6000 1 AT &T respectfully files this response to Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary approval of 2 the final settlement agreement between the InterLATA and IntraLATA Call Recipients Classes 3 and AT&T. AT&T does not oppose this motion. 4 AT&T submits this response for the sole purpose of ensuring that the Court is aware of 5 the order that was entered by Commissioner Schmidt of the Court of Appeals Division II on 6 March 21, 2013. The Order is attached hereto as Exhibit A 7 proceeding in which Division II is reviewing the WUTC's determination that AT&T was the 8 OSP on the interLATA and intraLATA calls at issue - which affects AT&T's indemnification 9 claim against T-Netix and which is therefore very much a live controversy that is expressly not 10 The Order was entered in the resolved by the settlement between Plaintiffs and AT&T. 11 The Order concludes that the Court's February 24,2012 Order that withdrew the primary 12 jurisdiction referral on the other issue that it had originally referred to the WUTC - whether the 13 rate disclosure regulations had been violated - was improper because AT&T did not obtain 14 permission from Division II under RAP 7.2(e) before it moved for withdrawal of the referral of 15 this issue. The Order states that "under RAP 7.2(a), once the notice of appeal as to the WUTC 16 Final Order was filed with [Division II], the trial courts, both in Thurston County and in King 17 County, lost authority to act while this appeal [of the WUTC Order] was pending." On this 18 basis, Commissioner Schmidt stayed this Court's February 24,2012 Order. (See Exhibit A) 19 AT&T believes that the foregoing Order of Division II would only affect the litigation in 20 this Court on the question of whether the rate disclosure regulations were violated - which is an 21 issue that is mooted by the settlements. Accordingly, the Order should not prevent the Court 22 from proceeding to approve the settlements. However, out of an abundance of caution, AT&T 23 will shortly file a motion with Division II for clarification of the Order or, in the alternative, 24 modification of the Order to allow the Court to proceed with approval of the settlement. 25 26 AT&T'S RESPONSE TO THE INTERLATA AND INTRALATA CLASSES' REVISED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH AT&T, ETC. -l STOKES LAWRENCE, P.S. 1420 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 3000 SEATTLE. WASHINGTON 98101-2393 (206) 626-6000 1 DATED this March 29,2013. STOKES LAWRENCE, P.S. 2 3 4 Kelly Twiss Noonan (WSBA #19096) Bradford J. Axel (WSBA #29269) 5 Attorneys for Defendant AT&T Corp. 6 Of counsel: 7 8 9 10 Charles H.R. Peters David C. Scott Brian L. J osias Schiff Hardin LLP 233 S. Wacker Dr. Suite 6600 Chicago, IL 60606 (312) 258-5500 (312) 258-5600 (fax) 11 12 13 14 15 16 Charles W. Douglas David W. Carpenter David F. Graham Sidley Austin LLP One South Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 853-7000 (312) 853-7036 (fax) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 AT&T'S RESPONSE TO THE INTERLATA AND INTRALATA CLASSES' REVISED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH AT&T, ETC. - 2 STOKES LAWRENCE, P.S. 1420 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 3000 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 981 01-2393 (206) 626-6000 DECLARATION OF SERVICE 1 2 I do hereby certify that on this 29th day of March, 2013, I caused to be served a true and 3 correct copy of the foregoing document by the method indicated below and addressed to the 4 following: 5 6 7 8 9 10 Via Email Chris Youtz Richard E. Spoonemore Sirianni Youtz Meier & Spoonemore 999 Third A venue, Suite 3650 Seattle, Washington 98104 chris@sylaw.com rspoonemore@sylaw.com Via Email Arthur A. Butler Ater Wynne LLP 601 Union Street, Suite 1501 Seattle, Washington 98101-2341 aab@aterwynne.com Via Email and Us. Mail Stephanie A. Joyce Arent Fox LLP 1050 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20036 joyce.stephanie@arentfox.com Via Email Donald H. Mullins Duncan Turner Badgley-Mullins Law Group PLLC 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 4750 Seattle, Washington 98104 donmullins@badgleymullins.com duncanturner@badgleymullins.com 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that the foregoing is true and correct. 18 EXECUTED at Seattle, King County, Washington, this 29th day of March, 2013. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 AT&T'S RESPONSE TO THE INTERLATA AND INTRA LATA CLASSES' REVISED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH AT&T, ETC. - 3 STOKES LAWRENCE, P .s. 1420 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 3000 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101-2393 (206) 626-6000 . EXHIBIT A Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two 950 Broadway, Suite 300, Tacoma, Washington 98402-4454 David Ponzoha. Clerk/Administrator (253) 593-2970 (253) 593-2806 (Fax) General Orders. Calendar Dates. and General Information at http://www.courts.wa.gov/courts OFFICE HOURS: 9-12. 1-4. March 2 t, 2013 Judith S. Roth Attorney at Law 666 5th Ave New York, NY, 10103 jroth@schiffhardin.com Bradford J Axel Stokes Lawrence PS 1420 5th Ave Ste 3000 Seattle, WA, 98101-2393 bja@stokeslaw.com Charles H.R. Peters 233 S. Wacker Drive, #6600 Chicago, (L, 60606 cpeters@schifthardin.com Leah Ward Sears Attorney at Law 1201 West Peachtree St. NW., #2300 Atlanta, GA, 30309 lsears@schiffhardin.com Chris Robert Youtz Sirianni Youtz Spoonemore Hamburger 999 3rd Ave Ste 3650 Seattle, WA, 98104-4038 chris@sylaw.com Gregory J. Trautman Attorney at Law 1400 S Evergreen Pk Dr SW PO Box 40128 Olympia, WA, 98504-0128 gtrautma@wutc.wa.gov David C. Scott 233 S. Wacker Drive, #6600 Chicago, IL~ 60606 dscott@schifthardin.com Richard E. Spoonemore Sirianni Youtz Spoonemore Hamburger 999 3rd Ave Ste 3650 Seattle, WA, 98 t 04-4038 rspoonemore@sylaw.com David W. Carpenter Sidley Austin' LLP One South Dearborn St. Chicago, IL, 60603 dcarpenter@sidley .com Kelly Twiss Noonan Attorney at Law 1420 5th Ave Ste 3000 Seattle, WA, 98101-2393 kelly .noonan@stokeslaw.com Arthur Allan Butler Ater Wynne LLP 601 Union St Ste 1501 Seattle, WA, 98101-3981 aab@aterwynne.com Joseph R. Guerra Sidley Austin LLP 1501 K. ST. NW Washington D.C., DC, 20005 jguerra@sidley.com Stephanie A. Joyce Arent Fox, LLP 1717 K. St., NW Washington, DC, 20036-5342 loyce.Stephanie@arentfox.com Duncan Calvert Turner Badgley Mullins Law Group PLLC 701 5th Ave Ste 4750 Seattle, WA, 98104-7035 duncantumer@badgleymullins.com CASE #: 42966-7-11 AT&T Communications, Inc., Appellant v. WA. Utilities & Transport Commission et aI, Respondents . Counsel: On the above date, this court entered the following notation ruling: A RULING BY COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: It has come to this court's attention that, subsequent to the January 2012 appeal from the Thurston County Superior Court's order on APA review of the WUTC Final Order, AT&T obtained an order in King County Superior Court that withdrew its grant of primary . jurisdiction to the WUTC. But under RAp 7.2(a), once the notice of appeal as to the WUTC Final Order was filed with this court, the trial courts, both in Thurston County and in King County, lost authority to act while this appeal was pending. There is no evidence that AT&T obtained pennission by motion to this court under RAP 7.2(e) for the King County Superior Court to enter its order withdrawing its grant of primary jurisdiction to the WUTC. Accordingly, that order is stayed pending future order of this court and the parties should be prepared to address that order, and the status of the King County Superior Court proceedings, at oral argument in the appeal from the Thurston County Superior Court's decision. Very truly yours, David C. Ponzoha Court Clerk