This week, Illinois U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin has given T-Mobile the green light to appeal a potentially costly class-action lawsuit stemming from its $26 billion merger with Sprint, completed in 2020. The suit, brought forward by subscribers of AT&T and Verizon, alleges that the merger significantly reduced competition in the wireless market, compelling AT&T and Verizon to hike their …
‘Mentally stressed’ RF expert bails on Roswell, GA in the final days of a T-Mobile lawsuit costing $1 million-plus
This week, T-Mobile continued its 14-year battle with Roswell, Georgia, to erect a 108-foot monopine near Lake Charles Drive that was denied multiple times. The ongoing lawsuit is the costliest and most protracted siting litigation in the United States, with both parties shelling out well over a million dollars in legal fees since T-Mobile filed the complaint in 2010. It is also …
New ADA lawsuit tells American Tower, T-Mobile and AT&T to relocate their tower or reconfigure their network with beamforming antennas
After American Tower, AT&T, and T-Mobile did not respond by February 1, 2024, to Duluth, Minnesota resident Marcia Haller’s request to mitigate RF levels that continued to make her ill at her home (as detailed on February 29, 2024, by Wireless Estimator), and caused 51 strokes, her attorneys, being paid by the Children’s Health Defense’s Electromagnetic Radiator & Wireless program, filed …
Having to sleep in a Faraday cage, Minnesota couple threatens ATC, T-Mobile and AT&T with a lawsuit
In 2008, Marcia and Jason Haller moved into their newly constructed home with an oversized free-standing garage in a peaceful setting in a rural area just north of Duluth, Minnesota. Within months, Minnesota Tower, Inc. erected a 295-foot guyed tower on leased land approximately 1,300 feet from Haller’s home, which was approved for construction by the FCC in 2007. Although …
Was $25K okay for tower tech foreman who claims he was terminated because of his union advocacy?
The Tower Climbers United/C.W.A. union (TCU/CWA) has recently issued a press release celebrating a significant triumph following the successful resolution of a dispute with Swartley Tower Services Communications, Inc. (S.T.S. Communications) on behalf of Roland Bachelder, a tower climber who faced discrimination and termination due to his active support of the union movement. The press release highlights that a settlement …
Goodman Network’s bankruptcy trustee is trying to claw back $10s of millions in fraudulent transactions
FedEx sues Goodman for $81 million in what trustee says was a minority business product laundering scam A FedEx subsidiary, FedEx Supply Chain Logistics & Electronics, Inc. (FSCLE), is suing executives and directors of Goodman Networks as well as Goodman-associated companies, a Texas bank, and business associates for a multi-faceted scheme to defraud FSCLE of more than $80 million. The …
Taking editorial roads less traveled seen as the successful driver for Wireless Estimator’s 20th Anniversary
In 2004, two years before Facebook became accessible to the general public and Yahoo! Groups were getting their internet legs, there was the now-defunct Tower-Pro group. It boasted 2,200 members at its peak, and was one of the few vehicles offering news and only when a member posted a link. At that time, former journalist and veteran contractor in the …
Verizon shareholder’s startling discovery: Lead cable-based lawsuit features him as the star plaintiff
The same law firm that helped bring shareholder derivative class actions against AT&T and Verizon executives and board members last July for allegedly covering up their knowledge of abandoned toxic lead-laden telecom cables filed another suit in the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey earlier this month on behalf of Verizon shareholder Wade Sarver against Verizon’s current Board of …
AT&T and Duke Energy bury the hatchet and settle their FCC pole rate row before the Fourth Circuit
With oral arguments before a three-judge appeals court for the Fourth Circuit set to begin on January 24, 2024, Duke Energy and AT&T have agreed to settle their disagreements against the FCC over a pole rate decision that both were concerned about for different reasons. On November 18, 2022, in a unanimous vote, the FCC stood by its 2021 decision …
Valmont initiates legal action against Better Metal for patent infringement
Nebraska-based Valmont Industries, Inc. has taken legal action against Tennessee’s Better Metal, LLC, filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Tennessee. The lawsuit alleges that Better Metal has violated four of Valmont’s patents through the manufacturing and sale of comparable products. Valmont seeks a jury trial to recover damages resulting from the patent infringements, requesting an …
Comcast slapped with a $19 million verdict for a fatal crash caused by one of its techs in Georgia
Slips, trips, and falls are the most common causes of injuries or deaths on construction sites, and technicians are constantly reminded of that danger in tailgate sessions, stand-downs, and training. However, motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in every primary industry, and one of the critical factors, according to multiple studies said, human error was the primary …
Nation’s largest-ever lawsuit filed against DoD and Commerce for $39 billion by Ligado in spectrum fight
Satellite company Ligado Networks is seeking up to $39 billion in compensation from the U.S. government for spectrum rights it claims were unfairly denied, alleging that the Pentagon and Commerce Department used a false pretext of GPS interference to deny its use of wireless spectrum licenses. In its Hail Mary attempt to stay solvent as bankruptcy looms for Ligado, and …
TechDash Telecom shutters its doors, swelling unemployment, but some companies are still hiring
After Fredericksburg, TX, TechDash Telecom ran out of cash when investment funding fell through, and they were aware that one of their lenders would be shortly filing a lawsuit since a note for $4,000,000 had matured, and the company was in default for nonpayment, the turnkey infrastructure company closed its doors on September 11, 2023, according to information obtained by …
Crown Castle’s Federal Sales Director says he was fired in retaliation for whistleblowing
A US District Court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, on August 23, 2023, denied Crown Castle USA, Inc.’s request to dismiss a whistleblower’s complaint for failure to make a claim, and the company is now required to answer Matthew Foosaner’s amended complaint by September 15, 2023. Foosaner alleges one count of retaliation against Crown Castle according to the …
AT&T CEO says not to worry, but new Verizon lead cable lawsuit tackles climbers’ future harm
AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said yesterday at a technology conference that tests conducted at several sites where the carrier has abandoned lead-clad cables have shown no risks of a public health crisis. His statement comes shortly after AT&T and Verizon investors filed similar securities fraud lawsuits after The Wall Street Journal published articles exposing that toxic cables are still in …
Lawsuit relies upon Wall Street Journal reporting about toxic lead-sheathed cable buried underground
UPDATE – August 2, 2023 – On Tuesday, Verizon investors filed a similar lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court to AT&T’s securities fraud lawsuit, stating the carrier lied about the health and safety risks associated with its network of lead-sheathed cables, leading to a decline in Verizon stock after The Wall Street Journal’s articles exposed the toxic cables that are still in …
AT&T says Mississippi county is stiffing it for relocation costs after they were forced off private property
AT&T is suing Rankin County, MS, in U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi, for relocation expenses incurred when the county required the carrier to move its distribution and other equipment for a road expansion project from a leased easement from a private property owner that it had acquired in 1991. AT&T alleges that after Rankin County announced that it would widen …
Insurer wins $112K default judgment for unpaid audit premiums owed by Vanguard Towers
A federal court for the Western District of Louisiana provided an insurer with a default judgment of over $112,000 against Vanguard Towers Inc. in its April 3, 2023, lawsuit over unpaid premiums after the company failed to enter a response to the insurer’s complaint. The court ordered the cell tower retrofitting and construction company to pay Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance …
Nexius, owing $600 million to creditors, shoveled millions to a supplier in Beirut before filing bankruptcy
In 2001, brothers Nabil and Ned Taleb co-founded Nexius in a two-bedroom Virginia apartment. They continued to bootstrap their first year’s revenues of $1 million to a multi-corporation self-performing wireless industry enterprise that boosted revenues to $1 billion in 2022. But cash is king, and they ran out of it last year and sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection three weeks …
Aggravated over aggregator Everest’s ‘multi-million dollar scheme’, Vertical Bridge files a lawsuit
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC has filed a lawsuit against competitor Everest Infrastructure Partners (EIP), alleging that it ran an unfair “multi-million dollar scheme to unlawfully improve its market share” at Vertical Bridge’s expense through trade secret misappropriation, interfering with existing contractual relations and false advertising. Vertical Bridge, the tower arm of Digital Bridge, requests that EIP provide an accounting of …
