text:
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, Defendants. ------------------------SPRINT NEXTEL CORPORATION, Plaintiff, vs. AT&T, INC., et al., Defendants. ------------------------CELLULAR SOUTH, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. AT&T, INC., et al., Defendants. : : : : Docket No.: : : : : : : Docket No.: : : : : : : Docket No.: : : : : X
Washington, D.C. Friday, 12/09/2011 9:40 a.m. REPORTER'S OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT OF STATUS HEARING BEFORE THE HONORABLE ELLEN S. HUVELLE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Court Reporter:
CHANTAL M. GENEUS, RPR, CRR Certified Realtime Reporter Registered Professional Reporter United States District Court 333 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20001
Proceedings reported by machine shorthand. Transcript produced by computer-aided transcription.
2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 For T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom: For AT&T: For the USA: A P P E A R A N C E S JOSEPH F. WAYLAND, ESQ. GLENN POMERANTZ, ESQ. JOSEPH J. MATELIS, ESQ. U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 3121 Washington, D.C. 20530 (202) 514-1157 MICHAEL K. KELLOGG, ESQ. MARK C. HANSEN, ESQ. Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C. 1615 M Street, NW, Suite 400 Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 326-7900 JAMES R. WADE, ESQ. Haynes and Boone, LLP 1615 L Street, NW, Suite 800 Washington, D.C. 20036 (202)654-4543 A. MICHAEL WARNECKE, ESQ. Haynes and Boone, LLP 2323 Victory Avenue, Suite 700 Dallas, Texas 75219 (214) 651-5659 GEORGE S. CARY, ESQ. MARK W. NELSON, ESQ. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, LLP 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20006 (202) 974-1500 HENRY C. THUMANN, ESQ. O'Melveny & Myers, LLP 1625 I Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 383-5300 M. EVAN CORCORAN, ESQ. Wiley Rein, LLP 1776 K Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 719-7113
3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 For the State of New York: For Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: For Cellular South and Corr Wireless: A P P E A R A N C E S (Cont'd.) For Sprint Nextel: STEVEN C. SUNSHINE, ESQ. TARA L. REINHART, ESQ. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP 1440 New York Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 371-7860 CHARLES L. MCBRIDE, JR., ESQ. Brunni, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC 1900 East Capitol Street Suite 100 Jackson, Mississippi 39201 (601) 960-6891 ALAN W. PERRY, ESQ. Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, LLP 200 South City Centre, Suite 100 South Lamar Street Jackson, Mississippi 39201 (601) 969-7833 CHONG S. PARK, ESQ. Steptoe & Johnson, LLP Attorneys at Law 1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington D.C. 20036 (202) 429-6275 JAMES A. DONAHUE, III, ESQ. Office of the Attorney General 14th Floor Strawberry Square Harrisburg, PA 17120 (717) 705-2523 GERALYN J. TRUJILLO, ESQ. Office of the Attorney General 120 Broadway 26th floor New York, New York 10271 (212) 416-6677
4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A P P E A R A N C E S (Cont'd.) For the State of California: BEN LABOW, ESQ. Office of the Attorney General 300 S. Spring Street Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213) 897-2691
5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 P R O C E E D I N G S (Whereupon, at 9:41 a.m. the proceedings commenced, and the following ensued:) THE COURT: ALL: Good morning.
Good morning, Your Honor. Gwen, will you call both cases
simultaneously, please, so that all counsel for both -- the Sprint, Cellular South, and the DOJ cases. THE DEPUTY CLERK: So you want Cellular
South and DOJ case called first? THE COURT: And Sprint. This is Civil Action
11-1600, Sprint Nextel Corporation versus AT&T, et al., Civil Case 11-1690, Cellular South, Inc. et al. versus AT&T, et al., and Civil Case 11-1560, United States of America versus AT&T, et al. I'm going to ask counsel to please come forward and identify yourself for the record and also state who you are representing. MR. WAYLAND: Good morning, Your Honor.
Joseph Wayland for the United States. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: Good morning. I have with me Mr. Glenn
Pomerantz, my co-counsel, and Joe Matelis, my colleague.
6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 THE COURT: Good morning. Good morning, Your Honor. I also have my
Steve Sunshine for Sprint Nextel. colleague, Tara Reinhart with me. MS. REINHART: THE COURT: MR. CARY:
Good morning.
Good morning. Good morning, Your Honor. George
Cary for Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile.
At counsel
table I have my colleague, Mark Nelson, Evan Corcoran, and Henry Thumann. THE COURT: list here yet. I'm sorry. You are not on this Again?
The list is so long.
George Cary for Deutsche Telekom
and T-Mobile with Mark Nelson, Evan Corcoran, and Henry Thumann. THE COURT: All right.
I missed Cellular South. MR. McBRIDE: Good morning. I'm Charles Along with
McBride on behalf of Cellular South, Inc.
me are my colleagues, Alan Perry and Chong Park. THE COURT: For ATT. MR. HANSEN: Yes, Your Honor. Good morning. Okay, thank you.
Mark Hansen for AT&T along with my partner, Michael Kellogg and Jim Wade present at counsel table.
7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 about? MR. HANSEN: I don't believe so, Your Honor. THE COURT: Okay. Just for clarification,
Mr. Hansen, is there any endearments between private suits in terms of representation for ATT? I notice that Mr. Wade has joined at least the two suits brought by Cellular South and Sprint. Is there some division that I should know
Mr. Wade and his colleagues have joined as additional counsel. We remain as counsel in the private suit as
well as counsel in the government suit. THE COURT: address both? MR. HANSEN: Yes, Your Honor. I will Okay. So you are ready to
address the government suit, and my partner, Mr. Kellogg will address the Sprint issue this morning. THE COURT: Okay. Well I think where we
need to start, I had originally thought we would be just taking up the initial scheduling involving the two private plaintiffs. But given the events of the
recent past, I think that we have to address you first, sir. MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: Sure. In fact, I read the newspapers
8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that. There's nothing before the Court. No one is this morning. They have questions for you.
And I asked, through our special master, to find out if there's anything specific that the parties in the DOJ case wanted us to bring up, and I got precious little in response. But apparently the first
order of business is the discussion of the FCC proceedings and, second, the discovery update. So I'm happy to have you address those first, since you are more intimately involved in the FCC proceedings than I am. MR. HANSEN: Yes, Your Honor, be happy to do
seeking any relief or any change of any scheduling, so I'm not sure what the point of a discussion is. But
that's something that the Justice Department wanted to put on the agenda. Here is our perspective on it, Your Honor. While the Justice Department filed its suit with much fanfare and it sought to block our transaction, they have come to court before the special master on repeated occasions, said they -THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: You have to slow down, please. Thank you, Your Honor.
-- don't want to try the case, are not ready
9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 me now? MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: Yes, Your Honor. And you do not anticipate that to try the case, et cetera. Recently, Your Honor, as you read in the newspapers, in the regulatory arena there's -something's happened, but we are continuing to proceed with this transaction. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: We have -Which transaction? The one --
Our merger with T-Mobile. The one that's at issue before
being changed in any way in the foreseeable future? MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, we are sitting here
today with the committed transaction with a contract to proceed with the transaction as structured. Nothing has changed with that. I do not have a crystal ball. what will happen in the future. I do not know
I don't think anyone But I can
can promise what will happen in the future.
tell the Court that we have an obligation to proceed with the transaction exactly as it is structured, exactly as it was placed before Your Honor by the Justice Department, exactly -THE COURT: You have an obligation. I'm
sorry, where does that come from?
10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. HANSEN: Your Honor. THE COURT: Now, let's review that for one We are contractually committed,
second so I understand. Somewhere I have read that there is a 9/12/12 drop-dead date. that mean? Is that correct? What does
What's that date? MR. HANSEN: It's a date by which we have to
achieve the closing of the merger or penalties are -not penalties, I guess is the wrong word, but financial consequences ensue. THE COURT: So that if anyone were to walk
away -- or if ATT were to walk away from the deal prior to the 12th, the 4 billion penalty, or however you want to call it, is or is not due? that and when? MR. HANSEN: Well, Your Honor, I think the It's a What triggers
penalty -- it's not really a penalty. contractual commitment. transaction is abandoned. financial consequences.
It's a breakup fee if the I think there would be If the transaction is not
closed in a timely way, there would be consequences. So the contract is out there. been changed at all. It hasn't
All the reasons why we asked to
have the early trial date remain the reasons to have
11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the early trial date. issues. changed. THE COURT: Well, something has changed. The Court heard all those
From our perspective, Your Honor, nothing has
You have withdrawn that application to the FCC, and we all know that's a condition precedent for this deal to go through. And it seems to be the given that they
are not obligated to move particularly quickly, nor am I. I have no -- without a PI, I have no particular obligation to move quickly. right? MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, I'm not sure But we think the You agree,
"obligation" is the right word.
Court made the right decision last time when you decided, frankly, the government shouldn't be allowed to pocket veto our deal. In other words, if we can't have a trial date in time to obtain the relief, to close the merger, the government, simply by its allegation, will have stopped the merger. right. And that's not fair or
We need to have our day in court. As to the FCC, Your Honor, I think it's a
very simple story there and in terms of what people's obligations are to do. Obviously, we think the FCC
12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the FCC? MR. HANSEN: government, absolutely. those same issues. Yes, Your Honor. It's the same will act just as Your Honor has acted to do the right thing in the right time frame. THE COURT: We have not proceed --
But you withdrew your You have
application, so they have nothing to do. given them nothing to do at this moment. MR. HANSEN: to do is this:
Your Honor, what we're seeking
The issues in the antitrust case are The FCC had
framed and ready for trial in this court.
made an announcement that they were thinking about having a parallel administrative proceeding that will go over many of the same issues. We made what we
think is a perfectly appropriate decision to say let's try the case in this court, develop a full record, have the decision of this Court on all of those issues. When that's done, that will dispose of many, if not most, of the issues that would have been before the FCC. THE COURT: Is it collateral estoppel as to
The government couldn't redo
The government is litigating these
issues against us here. THE COURT: What is your authority for that?
13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 not most. First of all, they have a public interest factor that I do not have. I. MR. HANSEN: Yes. That's why I said many if You know that, as well as
But we don't think the government could
relitigate the competitive issues where they had already been decided in a full and fair proceeding in this court. estoppel law. THE COURT: Well, let's say this: Are any I think that's standard collateral
of the findings going to be collateral estoppel as to the private party, or you just say the FCC? MR. HANSEN: Certainly as to us. I mean, in
our proceeding, yes, Your Honor.
We don't expect we
would relitigate before the FCC the competitive findings of this court. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: proceeding, Your Honor. How about as to Sprint? They are not a party to our Nonmutual offenses of
collateral estoppel, I think, is a complicated doctrine. I'm not prepared to address all the
different emanations of that. But I think Mr. Sunshine effectively said in the prior proceeding that it expected this Court to have the final word on issues relating to the
14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 government's case and it would not seek to be relitigating those. THE COURT: What do you think is a realistic
timetable in order to -- if you don't commit to resubmitting to the FCC until this Court rules? MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: Here's our -What is your plan? Here's the plan, Your Honor,
and we think it's, frankly, not that much different from the plan we had before, and here's why: We are
fully ready, and we will be fully ready to try this case before the Court beginning February 13th. And
the Court will have time to decide the issues and make rulings that will be binding on us and on the government. We can go back to the FCC with a full
judicial record -THE COURT: If you win. If you win. You've
already lost if you lose. MR. HANSEN: Of course, Your Honor. We
understand we're in this Court's hands, but we wish to have this Court decide those issues. go. When this Court decides those issues we can -- again, I'm not sure of the specific nomenclature, whether it's refiling, some other way to We're ready to
15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 be back at the FCC, but we can be back at the FCC with those issues. Really, we think the predominant issues
having been decided, and the FCC will have time to act. THE COURT: How do you get back to them, and I find it a little bit
when do I have to decide?
unsettling to think that I am being told when I have to decide because you have an agreement that you will lose X amount of money in the billions if I don't decide in a timely fashion. appeal? summer. MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, we had -It's true. I'm sorry. What if you want to
The Court of Appeals is not here in the
Of course, the Court has many
commitments, but we had this discussion before the Court originally. And we gave the Court the
timetable, and we tried to set out a timetable that would give the parties the time to try this case and the Court the time to write a decision and, Your Honor, time for any appellate process, obviously an expedited appellate process. THE COURT: But you at that time had pending I'm now -And I'm
since, I think, April an FCC application. I actually was the Judge who had Echostar.
16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 litigate? starting to feel déjà vu that the private parties are saying we have a deadline, you, Judge, are bound by our deadline. You have to give us enough time to get We would like to have your opinion We've withdrawn our
back to the FCC.
to help us with the FCC. application.
That hadn't happened in Echostar.
they were asking me to do it in three and a half weeks. So you are asking us to do it in less. You
are asking the taxpayer to support the Department of Justice, basically, in extraordinary expense because we're doubling up, tripling up discovery. You're asking me to tell Sprint and Cellular South to go slow. Their time comes next, where
they're not gonna necessarily -- we'll hear from Mr. Sunshine, but they are not going to go away if the government wins -- I mean, they'll go away if the government wins, but they don't necessarily go away if the government loses you just said. So they will -- why don't I want them now to Why don't I want to slow this down, get it
done once and for all? Because when you were here before, you had a much different posture to convince me to move about as humanly fast as possible. But now you have third
17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 parties spending enormous amounts of money, legal fees and document review. have the taxpayer. You have private parties. You
And you've imposed your client
upon the Court to get something done to meet the schedule which you've dramatically altered by removing that petition. Because you have no assurance -- say I am as expeditious as humanly possible and get an opinion out. If it takes six weeks to have a trial, we have a So you are talking about fast Do you resubmit your
month or two.
approaching the summer. application?
What guarantee do you have that you'll get a ruling, one, favorable from me? know that. You have none, we
And then what possible idea do you have
that the FCC will sign off by the 20th of September and an appeal will be heard, if necessary? MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, with all respect, I
don't think anything is any different from when all those considerations were weighed by the Court before. Let me tell you why. The FCC was always contemplated to be behind this Court. We never had a contemplation that the FCC And,
will decide until after the Court decided.
indeed, these arguments about the FCC were raised with
18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Your Honor and discussed at the time. The fortuity of
how we deal with the regulatory process, application pending, not pending doesn't change that calculus. THE COURT: I'm sorry, I have to interrupt. What I understand, that
I don't understand that.
everybody says the FCC, when you file, can take usually up to six months. That, apparently, is either
an unwritten rule or a rule of the agency. So by withdrawing, where are you, if that six months applies? can't make that. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, with all respect, I I You've now used that up. You
don't think there's an inflexible six-month rule. don't think that's right. The FCC has already had proceedings. According to them, Your Honor, they have an open docket respecting this matter. According to them,
they have the flexibility to act. Honor's absolutely -THE COURT: I'm sorry.
We believe -- Your
According to them. I
From whence are we getting this information?
thought that they had allowed you to withdrew your petition without prejudice? MR. HANSEN: Without prejudice, exactly.
They maintained an open docket, according to them.
19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 And, Your Honor, we are not aware of any inflexible six-month period. applicable. We don't believe that's
We don't believe there is such an We believe that substantively --
inflexible period.
again, I know the Justice Department wants to make a big deal out of this to keep us from having our trial. THE COURT: No. It seems to me they might That's
not like to have the trial on your timetable. what people are concerned about. MR. HANSEN:
It's either a trial on our Because if
timetable or not a trial at all, frankly.
we can't have a trial on an expedited basis, we can't have the merger. Effectively, a pocket veto. The fact of
Back to the FCC, Your Honor. the matter is -THE COURT:
You are leaving out in that
analysis, sir, the FCC. MR. HANSEN: incorporating the FCC. No, Your Honor, I'm fully When we were before you, Your
Honor, before -- when we were here before, of course, we talked about the FCC as an independent regulatory actor. They have to make their own decision. The FCC
has typically and traditionally been guided by what the court has done in these kinds of issues. no commitment as to when the FCC would act. We had
20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 in that? THE COURT: Have you really had experience
The only case that I'm aware of that has any
similarities is the Echostar matter which clearly fell apart because there was no FCC approval ahead of time. It's a condition precedent to this deal. to say that my trial in some fashion is the key here and should go first and should be oblivious to the question of whether the FCC will act in time or not -if I had the agreement of the FCC that we all could get done in time, it makes it a lot more productive. The way I'm looking at this, I don't think there may be a case in controversy issue as suggested. But I certainly see that the landscape has changed, sir. It has clearly changed. I have no assurance that you're gonna proceed with the FCC in any way to get this resolved in a timely manner. So to ask me to issue an opinion So
with enough time to allow for an appeal for the FCC, which we don't know what their timetable is -- you've had no discussion, I'm sure, or assurances from them, I suspect, unless you want to tell me otherwise. had assurances, I might be willing. I can get the work done, but you're not actually giving me much reason why. I gave you the I now have If I
early trial date over their objection.
21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 another lawsuit, which we didn't know about at the time, who would just as be happy as consolidating. And we slow it up slightly, and they'll be involved, and I'll have two trials -- I'll have one trial instead of two. Obviously preferable from everybody's
point of view, and I can still get done before September 20. But it's a bit presumptuous to say nothing has changed and you should just keep doing what we convinced you to do over the objection of certainly the Department of Justice without me knowing for sure that the deal will be the deal. I mean, you could change the deal in a month and everybody's time will be wasted, including the third party. I mean, we have hundreds of nonparties
out there looking for documents. I didn't find the motion by LightSquared to be frivolous. I can understand why they said it. I'm
saying the same thing they are and that the magistrate judge -- the special master indicated. We don't have any confidence that we are spending the time and effort and the taxpayers' money as well as the money of these other parties, we have no confidence that we're not being spun. So let me hear from the government for a
22 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 you? but -point. Honor? THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: Yeah. I really do want to stress one minute. MR. HANSEN: Can I just address that, Your
The only thing we're talking about different
here is whether an application is pending or not pending. We are still committed to be at the FCC. We
never had any commitment before as to when the FCC would act. The exact filing status is not
determinative of what the FCC will do. With all respect, Your Honor, I understand Your Honor's concerns, but from the perspective of having a committed transaction with contractually-set dates, we've all gated our expectations. moving forward with trial. We are
We're making progress, and
it will be of assistance to the FCC to have a decided case on the antitrust issues. It just will.
And it will put us in a position -THE COURT: Nobody there said that to me.
Have they said that to you? MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: Honestly. Pardon me, Your Honor? I said has anyone said that to
I mean, you think it will if you win,
23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 me. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: Your Honor. From the FCC? I have not spoken to the FCC, MR. HANSEN: Many people have that said to
But, truthfully, it only makes sense that
if this Court has decided the antitrust issues, the same government will be bound by those decisions as to the antitrust issues. There just doesn't seem to
be -- I don't think that's a live issue. THE COURT: You said in a letter to counsel
from LightSquared -- I don't remember whether it was you or Mr. Wade -- defendants intend to seek the necessary approval from the FCC as soon as practicable -- or practical, sorry -- and that my decision could constitute a materially changed circumstance. So I read that to say that until you have a decision from this Court -- and I am certainly not bound to issue one on a day certain -- that you won't seek approval. practical"? MR. HANSEN: available, Your Honor. I think all options are still We are proceeding with the Is that what you mean by "as
regulatory process and what we think is the appropriate way. THE COURT: What is that, sir?
24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. HANSEN: It means how we can most Obviously, we think it would
effectively get it done.
be of assistance to have that -- this Court's decision before the FCC. Exactly how and when you would do I'm not -- I just
things at the FCC, I can't say. don't know. THE COURT:
Is that sentence, "Defendant's
intend to seek the necessary approval as soon as practical" sensible? MR. HANSEN: Does it mean anything? Yes, Your Honor. It means that
we are committed to concluding this transaction. Whether we do that next week or six months from now is really a function of how we best get that done. We have always told this Court there were two independent things we had to get done to complete this transaction: Getting the Department of Justice's
lawsuit resolved and getting the FCC approval. We decided, Your Honor, for what we think are sensible reasons, that rather than have an FCC hearing process in parallel to this Court's trial -which is what we were facing -- it made sense not to have that, but rather to have those issues decided in one place, and that was in this court where we already have a schedule to get them tried in February rather than have them tried here and in front of an
25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 administrative law judge somewhere else. only thing that has happened. When we have this result, we don't think we will have that other process. That process will be That's the
effectively short circuited because this Court will decide many, if not most -- I didn't say all, but many, if not most, of the important issues. we'll have our fair chance before the FCC. We understand the FCC isn't obligated to approve our transaction. We understand that the FCC And then
has its right to take whatever time the law gives it. But we think the FCC, just like this Court, will be sensitive to the fact that we have a transaction. It's important for the future of a lot of people and a lot of companies, and we'd like to have a chance to have it resolved on the merits. What the government is telling, Your Honor -- I understand Your Honor's skepticism, but what the government is telling you and the delay argument is effectively, well, just sit and wait and maybe this will all go away. THE COURT: their complaint? MR. HANSEN: If they withdraw their What happens if they withdraw
complaint with prejudice, we don't have to have a
26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 proceeding in this trial, Your Honor. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: They won't. Of course, they won't do that. But, sir, you know, we could be
here on a PI and probably save everybody a lot of headaches. MR. HANSEN: But, analytically, Your Honor,
I think you've put your finger on exactly the right question. It's the fundamental fairness point that I
really think is the counter way to the practical concerns. If they were here saying yes, we'll drop it with prejudice -THE COURT: No, not with prejudice, because
they don't -- at this moment they don't see that you're a serious proponent of this deal without an application pending in the FCC. MR. HANSEN: If they believe that, they They don't believe
could drop it with prejudice. that.
They want to preserve the -- and, Your Honor, I
recognize the skepticism, but think of the practical effect here. By having their complaint out there and
unresolved, they are having a pocket veto over our deal. In other words, if this trial gets pushed
27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 back, if all the things get pushed back, we don't make thresholds, deal has to blow up. alternative. We have no
Yet the government has never proved a
single thing in court. THE COURT: with the FCC. MR. HANSEN: No, Your Honor, we don't think Your problem is also self-made
it's self-made because we have to get this trial done. Forget about the FCC for a minute. THE COURT: I'm not doing that. MR. HANSEN: That's what you may have done. I'm sorry. Both things have to get done, For this
and we have ways to deal with both of them.
Court to essentially say we can't have our day in court here -THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: I didn't say that. If we don't have our day in
court -- we had these discussions before with Your Honor, and the day in court that is meaningful to us, obviously, has to be an expedited day in court. The FCC is, itself, a hurdle we have to get over, and we have a way to get over that hurdle. Simply for them to say, well, just because we now think you are doing it differently with the FCC, don't have the trial on the issues that we've framed and set
28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that. MR. HANSEN: this Court's guidance. Court's -THE COURT: You could have the FCC's -- with the FCC, but to have And we think with this a block and gave reasons for the deal, we think that's unfair to us. live issues. Until such time as they tell us they are not challenging our deal, we need to get those issues clear, and we need to move with the FCC as well. the fact that we have chosen not to have parallel proceedings but rather have chosen as a matter of -pardon me. To essentially get those issues resolved But We think all these issues are still
here and use that -THE COURT: Yeah, use it. I understand
guidance because they have a broader jurisdiction than this court. And they could go first, and it would
certainly be very persuasive, if not, according to you, collateral estoppel because it's the government. So if you wanted the FCC, you win the whole nine yards, whereas here you don't make nine yards no matter what. I'm just one person along the way that I agree.
you would like to have a decision to use. MR. HANSEN:
Not to use, to have our day in
29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 court. And as to Your Honor's point about the FCC, we don't have that as an option, and I'll tell you why. We already had a full expedited trial schedule to get these issues decided by Your Honor at the time the FCC staff indicated they wanted to have an administrative hearing. We have no guarantee in
that process we would have an expedited administrative hearing. We have, on the other hand, an expedited
trial in this court. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: You have no guarantee of that. Well, we had an order from the
court saying this is what was gonna happen. THE COURT: Well, now I have two private
litigants sitting here, too, that you would like to have them wait until after the deal goes through in September. You want -- you know, you want one chance You don't
at one judge, then to take it to the FCC.
want Sprint to be involved in this or Cellular South at this time because they'll slow us down. And then
you say to them, well, we'll have a trial afterward. But they're not bound. So you say to the judge, well, hypothetically, you could have two trials, Judge, but
30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that's okay for you because we will have a shot of having -- a fifty/fifty shot of taking your decision to the FCC. It's a rather presumptuous position you find yourself in to say -- skeptical isn't the only word that might apply. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, we're trying to
simply have an appropriate chance to have these issues litigated on the merits. You are absolutely right. To inject private
parties into this government lawsuit makes it difficult, if not impossible, for us to have our day in court on the merits. And, Your Honor -THE COURT: Why impossible? Wait. Wait.
Let me hear what the impossibility is.
It just means
you have to fight more than one petition. MR. HANSEN: Well, we had these very
disputes before Your Honor, I think, the last two times we were before the Court when we laid out all those arguments. I believe we were persuasive at that
time persuading the Court that injecting private parties with private competitors' concerns in the government's lawsuit made it an unadministrable lawsuit. And that was our basis for making those
31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 arguments then, and we think they are every bit as valid now. THE COURT: maybe I clarify it? I believe that you are flatly wrong on the law that they have to show a Section 7 as well, and they will not be bound by the government, probably, under collateral estoppel basis and, therefore, at least up to the point of standing, there is one -- I am quite -- sort of shocked by your pleadings. There's never been a suggestion by this Court, and I don't know whether there's ever been one by the Department of Justice, but their burden is the same as the government's up to a point, plus some. So it's that part that I don't want to try twice if you were to prevail. I mean, if the Can I interrupt for one thing so
government prevails, we don't have to worry about Sprint. But that -- so to the extent that you are proceeding on a premise that they need not show a Section 7 violation to even then get to the next step of standing, I cannot find a bit of support for that, and I find lots of support to the contrary. And if
that's the case, now that we have two -- their discovery is not gonna be quite so limited. And I'm
32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 not looking favorably upon the idea of looking at the issue twice. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, I believe
Mr. Sunshine told the Court early on we weren't going to look at the issue twice. Whatever the government They
had will be decided in the government's case. had other claims that will -THE COURT:
I think Mr. Sunshine probably
wants to say something different today. I'd like to go back to the issue of why we picked the trial date when we did. My understanding was that you were proposing to close in March. clearly. You've now moved the goalpost,
You were here telling us that your date -It had been
and then you had the petition pending.
out there more than six -- would be more than six months at the time, and that we were aiming to get done by March. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, I don't believe I believe we told
we've moved the goalpost at all.
the Court exactly accurately what the gating dates were in the contract, and they are still the gating dates. date. We have a March date. We have a September
I think I specifically raised with the Court
just those dates.
33 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 THE COURT: something in June. MR. HANSEN: Yes, exactly, Your Honor. The March, September, and there's
dates are as we previously represented. changed. We still have those dates.
Nothing has
But, obviously, We
it seems unlikely we are going to close in March. have the September date we're facing. THE COURT: has to certify? MR. HANSEN: What's the June date?
Certify the possibility that we
will be able to proceed with the transaction. THE COURT: the language? MR. HANSEN: Reasonably, likely. I don't Is that the -- "possibility" is
have the exact -- someone has to certify they believe it's a reasonable chance that we can -- we can successfully conclude. But those dates are exactly as
previously represented, Your Honor. THE COURT: have this agreement. Well, I'm curious -- and I don't I actually would like to see it
because I think the difference, especially for purposes of a public company, is somewhat important. It's reasonable -- what is it, again, somebody from your company would have to certify? MR. HANSEN: I think --
34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 approval. THE COURT: I know. But don't you possible. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: Reasonably what -Meaningfully possible to occur can't be. MR. WAYLAND: Your Honor, reasonably THE COURT: Reasonable chance? No, that
prior to such extended date. MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: Meaningfully possible to occur. And so without my decision, you
as attorneys for ATT think that you can certify that without -- if I haven't complied with that date? don't think that's an important date for your purposes? MR. HANSEN: date for our purposes. June is certainly an important I think the dates are as I Nothing has You
previously represented, Your Honor. changed on that. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: with the FCC -THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: I know.
You keep on forgetting the FCC. Your Honor, all that's happened
I know what's happened.
-- is strategy for how to gain
understand from those of us who are not one of the
35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 parties, that this "strategy" has a slight aura of using -- I think is the word that you used -- the Court to some extent, and the third parties and the Justice Department? I understand they're in the driver's seat. So for them to not ask for any relief sort of surprises me, because they are working as hard as you are, if not more so. But I have some responsibility
to the taxpayer to worry about whether we're entering into an exercise in which we are being used in a way that were not intended; "we," the courts. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, let me be very We didn't seek resort
direct about that, Your Honor. to the court. We were sued. Right.
We were sued by a government
that said we are going to block your $39 billion transaction, which is a big thing for us, our shareholders, lots of other people. of that. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: Sure. Our only recourse is to come to The Court's aware
this Court to say we need to have the Court either decide, or we lose the transaction. veto aspect to this. There's a pocket
36 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Echostar. January. We don't believe that's using the Court. We
simply believe that's an appropriate thing to bring to the Court's attention. THE COURT: it's such a good deal? I mean, really, that's what happened in They came and said we picked a date of By the way, Judge, you are just going to Why don't you renegotiate if
have to help us do this. I find that difficult. You have a right to
negotiate with private parties if it's such a great deal. Don't say everybody else has to comply with To comply with your timetable is
your timetable.
taking us a great deal of not -- I'm not speaking on my behalf. I'm talking about the larger group of It's an enormous burden.
people, far larger group. MR. HANSEN:
Your Honor, the burden is
imposed on us by the Justice Department, who got the transaction in March, decided to sue to us August 31 and put us in the position we're in. The fact is, Your Honor, we're not trying to impose a burden. We are simply trying to comply with
our contractual obligation. You say we can renegotiate the deal. absolutely -- we could make a deal. That's
Who knows what
37 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 agreed? could happen. I don't have a crystal ball. And I
Here's what I have today, Your Honor. really apologize.
I don't mean to be presumptuous, We are put in
but I do mean to be as direct as I can. a position by people other than us. creation of ours.
This is not a
We were put in a position by the
Justice Department of defending the lawsuit. We then had the FCC say, you know what, why don't we have our own proceeding? We said to that,
you know what, it makes no sense to have parallel proceedings. We think if we have a proceeding in this
court -- which we have planned, which the parties are working to conclude before this court in February, so the court can decide the issues, that will be in the best interest of everyone. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: the step we took. THE COURT: But they agreed to let you Did they agree? Did who agree? The FCC. They agreed to allow us to take
withdraw your petition? MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: Yes, Your Honor. Was it without prejudice they
38 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Honor. else. MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: They did agree to that. They haven't agreed to anything
I regret for everybody there's these two
parallel tracks, but without one even being -- the train even being on the track at this moment gives one some insecurities. MR. HANSEN: Let me just pause on that, Your
In substantive terms -- and I recognize the
Court's points, but in substantive terms we're still where we were. Now we need to have the FCC approve this. We have already had significant proceedings at the FCC. They have lots of information. THE COURT: information. They didn't like the I
No, I don't mean to be facetious.
mean, you're looking at the possibility that I agree that you have many arguments for the staff report, but I suspect without knowing that you have full access to a report that was fairly negative, sir. So we are not in the same place. You have
to look at the other regulatory process with a good deal of caution at this point, that their concerns are not limited to Section 7, and they are not favorable to you. And even if you had a full fight and a full
39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 opportunity to address that report -- and whether it ever comes in in this case, I have no idea. It's
another big issue along with twenty-seven others, but your posture is just not the same as it was. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, with all respect,
the staff report has no more significance than the DOJ's complaint. It is a government, essentially, It's entitled to no weight.
prosecutorial document.
And, indeed, much of it is about the antitrust issues that will be resolved in this court. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: But not all. Not all, Your Honor. We think,
we honestly think that when the government is forced to finally prove their case in this court and we can show that they're wrong, a lot of the staff report goes away, too. It's a deeply flawed document, deeply
flawed analysis; entitled to no deference. And the FCC has not acted. There hasn't
been a single FCC action in terms of what will happen with this transaction. THE COURT: let you withdraw. the chronology. They have not -Of course. You withdrew. They
I mean, you're sort of compressing The report is starting to percolate.
After you withdraw, they say it's okay and they make it public, and you respond.
40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 forward. MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: Right. But those events that occurred
over the Thanksgiving are not the same as where we were when we were here setting a trial date. I guess I should hear from the government. They brought this complaint. it, they better let me know. MR. HANSEN: Well, I'm sure, Your Honor. They have concerns about
But if they want to drop the complaint, that's one thing, but we simply think they can't have it hanging over us. prejudice. We are committed contractually to going And we do honestly believe that all the If they drop it, they drop it with
considerations the Court has identified are essentially the same considerations as when we went into setting the trial date in the first place. And
we are where we were, and it would be unfair to us to let the government effectively exercise a pocket veto of our transaction by means of a lawsuit. THE COURT: It's not a pocket veto. Don't
forget, they have one other entity with a veto power and you have a private suit out there. to think of these. MR. HANSEN: The private parties, if they It's hard not
41 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 really wish to come in, jump the queue of all the other private litigants at the doors of this courthouse, they can seek a TRO. preliminary injunction. They can seek a
I don't see how private
litigants get to essentially jump the line because they say we want to jump the line. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: We just told them how. Well, they don't want to do But the
that because it's unlikely they'll prevail.
situation is, Your Honor, private parties, you know, obviously, you know, they have whatever rights they have. But we have a pending lawsuit, a pending schedule, lots of water under the bridge. working very, very hard. People are
I was -- U got back at 2 in
the morning after having been at a deposition in Dallas yesterday. Your Honor, we are committed to making this schedule and being in court in February so that we can have the transaction addressed on the merits and not on predictions about what an FCC will do when they haven't even gotten the transaction in front of them. Nobody has done anything at the FCC yet. The staff report is no different than the DOJ decided, you know, the prosecutorial filing.
42 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 facts. The merits of this transaction are positive. They are beneficial. If we can't convince the Court We understand. If we
of this, then we don't win. can't -- think of that world.
Think of a world where
we can convince Your Honor in February or March this is a pro-competitive transaction and all their theories are at war with the facts -THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: Then they'll want to appeal. They'll have a right to appeal,
and they can expedite the appeal. Think of the world in which those are the We then have a material chance -THE COURT: decide before June? MR. HANSEN: How can they appeal if I don't Really. They can expedite the appeal
for whatever time Your Honor has decided. Obviously -- we will look at the world in June the way the world looks. If we have a decision from Your
Honor saying we think you, AT&T, are right, much easier to certify on the standards that you adduce. The government, on the other hand, if they have a decision by June adverse to them, they can say to the D.C. Circuit, we need some kind of ruling up or down in time to block the deal before this closes in September.
43 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 it. The FCC can act very quickly when it wishes It can act very slowly when it wishes to. But we
are going to take the, hopefully not naive, assumption that the commission at the FCC wants to do what's in the public interest and take this case on the merits and not do some sort of cynical thing like a pocket veto. We could only assume that everybody who has a role to play in this process is going to act in such a way as to decide this case on the merits and not on a pocket veto basis. And the only way we can avoid a
pocket veto, Your Honor, it really is -- and we don't mean to be presumptuous. We are not using the Court, The only
and we're not playing some strategic game.
way we can have this case decided on the merits is to have a prompt trial in this court on what the DOJ has alleged -THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: And a prompt decision. Your Honor, we apologize. We
know it puts a burden on the Court; puts a burden on everybody. We didn't sue to block the deal. They
sued to block the deal. We are going to meet every deadline. We're
certainly working very hard, as everybody, on this. We understand it places a burden on the Court, and we
44 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 issues. that. apologize for that. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: Not just the Court. But it's essentially by virtue
of the Justice Department coming in and seeking to block a very substantial private transaction. they're right, wonderful. be. And if
That's the way it has to
But if they are wrong, Your Honor, if they are It
wrong, it should be decided on the merits.
shouldn't be decided based on them never having to prove their case and scuttling this deal. Echostar, Your Honor, you were involved in I wasn't. But the distinct flavor of that one People just had to go
was on the deal going away. away. merits. THE COURT: I mean, really.
They never really got to resolve that on the
I never did it based on smell.
They came in and asked for something And I'm not sure whether
that was almost undoable. this is or isn't.
Which brings me to the second issue on your agenda before I turn to the government and Mr. Sunshine. You said discovery update was one of the I just want to know what that refers to in
the agenda.
45 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Honor. THE COURT: Twelve fact witnesses identified MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, that's the We are, actually, quite
Justice's agenda, not ours.
pleased with the progress of discovery, thanks to the intercession on a timely basis of Special Master Levie. My understanding is there is no -- I want to
underline this, there is no unresolved discovery. THE COURT: Is there something coming up
with the company in Texas that we need to know about? MR. HANSEN: Yes, Your Honor. MetroCell,
they sought to quash in Texas.
I haven't read it, but
I believe there's an order referring that to Master Levie by the court in Dallas, which we welcome. I
think remarkably Special Master Levie has, within a day or so of virtually every dispute being brought to him, promptly resolved it. So we sit in a situation where I think everybody contemplated going in that there could be a myriad of discovery disputes. We're moving forward
quite efficiently from our perspective. THE COURT: Have you reached all these We are up at seven
deadlines that have been set up?
rebuttal expert identifications due. MR. HANSEN: We've made every deadline, Your
46 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 mean? MR. HANSEN: I think most of them have been by plaintiff. After the eighteen, eighteen by you.
That's all moving along? MR. HANSEN: deadline been met. THE COURT: How many more third-party All correct, Your Honor. Every
depositions are there to go? MR. HANSEN: I think there are a number, There's a substantial
Your Honor; five or ten. number. THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: THE COURT:
Total five or ten? At least from us. They haven't been set yet, you
set or we are in negotiations to get them finally set. People are being cooperative, for the most part. Again, the safety valve is to the extent somebody is not cooperative, we'll take the matter to Special Master Levie. And that's been very effective
in getting it worked out, as you saw in LightSquared. THE COURT: Do you know what the basis of
this motion to quash is? MR. HANSEN: Of MetroCell's? Your Honor, I I
don't specifically know the details of that.
suspect it's beyond confidential information...I can't
47 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 address the Court on the specifics. THE COURT: We've now agreed, for the
record, that we will have the tutorial on the industry the 18th and 19th. the special master. And I've set the contours through We will have more of a discussion And you will -- I think
than a cross-examination.
we've set a timetable where the parties will give me the agenda and what topics they want, who will take the burden for which topics so we cover the things that are essential for me to understand the industry. I also appreciate the parties having -- I had to continue this matter because of family illness, but -- that was the reason. the contours of this deal. All right. government. MR. HANSEN: MR. CARY: Thank you, Your Honor. Your Honor, before you hear from I think we need to hear from the It had nothing to do with
the government, can T-Mobile be heard on this point briefly? THE COURT: MR. CARY: Sure. Sure.
Your Honor, I'm not going to
repeat what's already been said, but very briefly, it has always been our contemplation that the FCC decision would come after the decision in this court.
48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 it before? point. That's our understanding of what the FCC's plan is as well. So the only thing that we're talking about here is whether they can decide that quickly. We understand that there are -THE COURT: Let me stop you. The FCC was
willing to wait, by the way, for an ALJ to do their work. So that -- nothing about that has changed
except now they don't have an ALJ getting ready to do anything because you withdrew. MR. CARY: Yes. And that is exactly the
That is exactly the point, Your Honor. The FCC has never done a merger trial
through an ALJ.
That's a very long process.
usually done at the staff level where things are worked out. When they announce that there was a
possibility that they would put it into an ALJ proceeding, that's why the hearing -- the application was withdrawn. THE COURT: MR. CARY: THE COURT: MR. CARY: THE COURT: Why? But the notion here is -They've never done it before? Sorry? It's because they've never done
49 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 done? MR. CARY: Because the timeline of that kind
of a proceeding would have been so long it would have pushed us beyond the drop-dead date of the deal. THE COURT: How do you know that? I just
don't know how you know that. MR. CARY: an ALJ proceeding. That is the practice in terms of They said they wouldn't start it
until after the trial, and the process takes a long time. So that was effectively the equivalent of
pushing it past our drop-dead date. When the government brought this case, they made a point of saying that it was important to expedite because T-Mobile's business was in limbo during this process. It remains in limbo.
The only way this deal can get done is for this Court to go ahead expeditiously, and then for the FCC process to get done. It's -THE COURT: How does that latter process get
I just don't understand it. MR. CARY: Because after this adjudication
is finished, we go back to the FCC and we finish the process there outside the context of an ALJ proceeding, and that can be done. THE COURT: But, again, you are being
50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 scenario. THE COURT: It is a responsible thing for presumptuous. want. You're assuming you win here, that I do a very quick job in response to a long, complicated case, get you an opinion. If you then win, then you You are saying the FCC will do what you
go to the FCC, and they'll no longer care about an ALJ, they'll no longer care about other issues, and they'll beat your deadline. And if the government
wants to appeal, the Court of Appeals will beat your deadline, and fine and dandy you might get through by the 20th. The number of ifs in that scenario is
mind-boggling to me. MR. CARY: There are many ifs in that
your parties to be doing this? MR. CARY: Where there's no if, is that if
this trial doesn't occur expeditiously, then the transaction's over. THE COURT: Yeah. There's one last --
there's one if instead of many, many ifs. MR. CARY: Right. So the only way this
transaction can get done is if this case proceeds expeditiously, and if the FCC then takes the record and deals with it expeditiously.
51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 no plan. time. THE COURT: I don't know what would -- how THE COURT: And the Court of Appeals doesn't
have anything to say before the 20th, or no one appeals. MR. CARY: THE COURT: MR. CARY: That's right. And that -- those are three ifs. That's right. But a decision by
this Court to put off the trial is a decision -THE COURT: I can put it off a month or two
and get you a decision before the end of the summer, but you would not like that. I can beat the 9/20 date in no time at all, but I can assure myself not having to look at the private parties again -- I would like to see collateral estoppel work both ways here; not just you going to the government, but me not having to deal with private parties. MR. CARY: But under that scenario there is
There is no way to get it through the FCC in
that will happen one way or the other no matter what I do. You don't either, right? MR. CARY: No, we do. I mean, frankly. We do. There is a
prospect -- if this case is completed, if there's a record that deals with the competitive issues, there
52 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 is no need for a separate adjudication of the FCC. The FCC could very well recognize that and resolve the remaining issues. There's plenty of time for that to
happen outside the context of an adjudication. But if this case doesn't go ahead, then the deal's over. It's the equivalent of having
permanently enjoined the transactions. THE COURT: Well, this case can go forward, I mean,
but it doesn't have to go forward in a month. there's a variety of issues. MR. CARY: But all the reasons that
militated in favor of an early trial date.
In fact,
the Department of Justice originally proposed a March trial date a couple of weeks later than what is scheduled. All of those reasons remain. T-Mobile
remains in limbo.
The transaction remains in limbo.
The FCC process is held up because it was always going to come next, after this transaction -- after this hearing. All of that remains as it was. THE COURT: Limbo at FCC is a result of It has nothing to do
their reaction to your deal. with me. MR. CARY: THE COURT:
That's correct. I mean, you would just like to
be able to say that one court has considered the
53 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 this. MR. CARY: Yes. Good morning, Your Honor. benefit? MR. CARY: THE COURT: That's my opinion. I would like to hear from the arguments of Section 7, but they -- I don't know exactly what the collateral estoppel effect is. Maybe
Mr. Wayland has a point of view, or Mr. Sunshine, on that. I've never thought about it, but still I'm sure
some of their issues have nothing to do with Section 7. MR. CARY: a lot of issues. The staff has indicated they have
Most of those issues are Section 7,
and the commission would benefit from a full adjudicated record, and at that point there would be no necessity of doing another. THE COURT: Whose opinion they would
FCC, but they are not here. Okay. Let us here from the other parties on
There's a fundamental fallacy in what the Defendants are telling you, and that is that they believe that they can invoke the jurisdiction of Clayton Act Section 7 and get Your Honor to issue an opinion because they want to get going fast.
54 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 statute. But the way Section 7 works, it's a blocking We use it to block transactions when we When we filed our
think they're going to close.
complaint in August, there was an FCC proceeding in place already. There was a calendar at -- the 180-day
clock was running. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: Yeah. And they filed in April. So we filed in
In April.
August thinking that we needed to do so because the FCC might complete its process, and we needed to be ready. And that's what Section 7 does. a right to block. It gives us The
We don't have to approve.
court doesn't have to approve. statute.
It's simply a blocking
We invoke it when we think we need to stop a
transaction. Right now, Your Honor, there's absolutely no reason to invoke it because this transaction cannot close, and they cannot get it closed until they file with the FCC. So we're next -- the reason for the delay, we raised this issue with the special master the other day, and we've been waiting to see what the response would be in front of Your Honor, which is why we put it on the agenda.
55 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 We thought maybe they would come in and say, okay, we're gonna file with the FCC next week and nothing's really changed. But hearing what we've
heard today, which is that they may not file until after Your Honor rules or some other time, there's just no basis at all to understand when they are going to file, we next week will file a motion. will be this: The motion
It will be either a motion to withdraw
without prejudice, or a motion to stay the proceedings. We are to make that filing next week for
all the reasons that Your Honor has already suggested. THE COURT: Let's get specific here. It
saves a lot of time and effort if we know what we are doing. out. I just -- I think that they have to come to some grips with this in order for everybody to feel as though we're operating on -MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: this quickly; quickly. Exactly right, Your Honor. We are going to have to hear You are going out doing I don't know why it takes so long to figure it
discovery, and we are not putting a halt on that discovery at the moment. MR. WAYLAND: Tuesday, Your Honor. We can file our motion on
56 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 it. situation. THE COURT: And they have till Thursday and You are going to either move
we'll be back on Friday.
to stay or dismiss without prejudice under 42? MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: Correct, Your Honor. You know, I've been in this
It's not great, and no one loves it, but
if we had to have a PI, we'd have to have a PI that exists out there. It's not the ideal way to go. I mean, I
But you must know a lot by now. don't know how much -MR. WAYLAND:
Well, actually, there's a I can
substantial amount of discovery to be done.
give it to Your Honor if Your Honor is interested in that before we have the motion or not. THE COURT: question, if you may. What is the government's position -- I've never looked at this -- on whether there can be collateral estoppel used at the FCC? In other words, Yeah, I do. But one other
it is -- if they were to prevail, that it is not anticompetitive? MR. WAYLAND: I'm not prepared to address
It's our view, but I don't have case authority,
that it does not have that effect. THE COURT: I would like to know because,
57 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 months? MR. WAYLAND: Yeah. It was not a real it's really -- the number of hypotheticals that the two defendants are operating on are so enormous. I
don't find that courts should have to operate in such a world of hypotheticals. But I also agree completely
with Mr. Hansen that there's a suit here. MR. WAYLAND: Well, there's a suit because Once
there was a prospect of a real transaction.
that's not gone -- a good hypothetical, Your Honor, suppose that they had filed their transaction in March, as they did, and that they had gone through the Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance process but they hadn't filed with the FCC, which is really what's their position. We would have said this: We would have
said, thank you very much, come back when you file with the FCC and we'll tell you what we're gonna do. We wouldn't have filed a complaint in August. THE COURT: Because you knew you had six
transaction until they filed with the FCC. THE COURT: Is that six-month rule, would
that have any applicability here if they were to refile? They seem to think not. MR. WAYLAND: Yes.
58 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 tell him. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: I think -Here's what the general
counsel of the FCC said when they announced that they were allowing them to withdraw: back to "square one." The clock starts again. THE COURT: But do you think you can invite They said, they are
That's the quote, "square one."
the general counsel to appear? MR. WAYLAND: can't force. THE COURT: Well, I would like him to, so I can invite, Your Honor. I
I think it's fair to say that some of
these -- are they back to square one under the rules? I don't have the ability to know their practices without somebody appearing to say so. I mean, there are a lot of people professing to say what they would do and not do. And whether or
not we have a real controversy, it depends a whole lot on what's available to the parties, meaning ATT and T-Mobile. And I need you, as part of your pleading, to address this issue. And it's one of the questions the I don't
general counsel may have something to say.
know the answer of whether or not they could go from here and convince them because I can hopefully write a
59 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 persuasive opinion in their favor, which that's a hypothetical, too, at this point. MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: Right. And on discovery? I'm sorry.
Your Honor, I can give a quick There are about
summary where we are on discovery. 125 third parties were subpoenaed. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: 135?
125 were subpoenaed.
have been productions from 100 of those.
There have
been seventeen depositions taken, and the parties have identified twenty experts. What's still to be done, supposedly by January 10th, Your Honor, there are potentially forty-six depositions left to complete of the thirty per side that were authorized. THE COURT: So you have twenty or so, and
they have twenty or so? MR. WAYLAND: Plaintiffs have twenty-one,
and defendants have twenty-five. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: Have they noticed twenty-five? Ten have been noticed by us And
and twelve have been noticed by the defendants.
at least thirty third parties haven't finished their production yet.
60 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 serious. but -THE COURT: I mean, you've got to be By January 25th, which is when all the expert depositions are complete, we're gonna have to have had as many as twenty-five expert reports and twenty-five expert depositions. THE COURT: You think I'm gonna hear from
twenty-five experts in my little trial? MR. WAYLAND: I don't think so, Your Honor,
Twenty-five experts? MR. WAYLAND: We identified five in our case And we
in chief and the defendants identified nine.
identified four rebuttal, and they identified two rebuttal. THE COURT: That's twenty. So you've You only have
just -- it's not really twenty-five. twenty experts.
I've never seen an expert get off the stand in less than a day or two. a trial. I mean, that's -- there's
We have to move fast. MR. WAYLAND: I agree, Your Honor. There
would be seventy more depositions, supposedly, to be done before January 10th. THE COURT: without experts? No. Seventy more with or
61 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 experts. MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: disagree with that? I think that's right. Quickly, Mr. Hansen, do you That's forty-six depositions twenty. THE COURT: Fifteen days with twenty Honor. 10th. MR. WAYLAND: No. You are right, Your MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: With experts. But they are not due by the
It could be as many as forty-six before And then Your Honor's generally aware
January 10th.
of the rest of the schedule. THE COURT: By the 10th. And then the last And then we are
day for depositions is the 25th. going to have briefing. that at some other time.
And we are going to discuss We don't need to take page
limits on exhibits and the briefs. MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: Right. You are saying forty-six before
the 10th and then the experts, which sound to me like twenty. MR. WAYLAND: Well, yeah. I think maybe
between now and the 10th, and twenty depositions thereafter by the 25th; which will be about sixty-six
62 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 depositions, and you've taken seventeen? MR. HANSEN: number noticed. I agree that there are a
I'm not sure what the actual number
will turn out to be, how many will actually get taken. The experts may or may not wind up staying through the process. This is designation stage. There's a
winnowing process. But what I agree with is we have a certain number of depositions we're going to take. we've made progress. So far
I don't anticipate any issues.
There are a lot of people working on it at DOJ, a lot of people working on it on our side. get it all done on schedule. THE COURT: Okay. I don't think DOJ is We are going to
quite so -- are there any other issues that I have to understand? I find that I'm learning more from the
press than I learn from the parties sometimes. MR. WAYLAND: Honor, by Tuesday. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: Tuesday, noon. Yes. As part of that, I would like to We'll brief this fully, Your
know what effect the ruling in this court would have. Second of all, you probably have had experience with this. Say they lose, what's gonna
63 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 make the Court of Appeals come to grips with this in the summer? I mean, they generally leave in June. I
don't quite understand that they could have -- they'll do something for a TRO or a PI, but I'm unaware that they'll bring in a special -- maybe they do. that's been your experience. MR. WAYLAND: I don't know. Maybe
My experience, Your Honor, the
parties typically renegotiate the terms of their contract. For example, this contract required the parties to make a filing with the FCC within thirty days of signing up the agreement. So in my view
they've either had to renegotiate that or ignore the fact that they are, technically, in breach of that requirement. THE COURT: You say "technically," because I don't know.
they made the filing and took it away. That's their problems, not ours. MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: I agree.
I have not read it.
Mr. Sunshine, can I ask you a couple of questions here? There are a lot of things lingering.
Do you know any law on this, on whether or not a ruling from this court on title -- on section -I keep calling it Title VII, sorry -- Section 7, what
64 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 effect it would have on the FCC? MR. SUNSHINE: Your Honor, I know generally.
I don't have cases to cite you, but I can provide those to you in short order. But the general rule is
as Your Honor correctly stated; the FCC has to approve a transaction that's in the public interest. The public interest includes many things, including competition. And, importantly, one key
difference between the FCC proceeding and your court, Your Honor, is in front of the FCC AT&T has the burden of proving that the application is, indeed, in the public interest. THE COURT: What's that burden? Is it -I
I'm not sure, Your Honor.
don't know if it's a preponderance of evidence or convincing. I do know it is the FCC's -- it is the
moving party's burden to show. THE COURT: That may have an effect on res
judicata and collateral estoppel, itself. MR. SUNSHINE: And for all those reasons,
Your Honor, I do not believe it's collateral estoppel. I believe the FCC will take note, just as they took note of the DOJ's opinion and considered it persuasive authority wherever you come out. it's collateral estoppel. But I do not believe
65 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 THE COURT: And do you believe that their
report is admissible in this court, or you don't want to express an opinion on that? MR. SUNSHINE: Right now, it's -- I think But
the report should be admissible in this court. it's just -- it's a staff report, so it's not a binding order of the commission.
But I would say, the
much more important part -- because I think this just underscores the element of fantasy that you heard earlier this morning -- is that that report didn't come out of full cloth or come out of thin air. That
report was a result of an eight-month investigation. According to the reports, AT&T met with the FCC staff and commissioners on at least thirty occasions -- if I'm getting that fact right -committed voluminous amounts of documents. Party
after party appeared in front of the FCC and put in their opinions. THE COURT: Okay. So the reason why I raised
that, Your Honor, is that this idea of just going back to the FCC and getting clearance, it's just fantasy, Your Honor. THE COURT: They don't view me as an expert
in the federal communications, and I don't view them
66 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 as an expert, necessarily, in antitrust. But that
doesn't mean that they're gonna be bound in some fashion by me unless it's legally required. Well, I have to go back to you on something you did say earlier. right. And Mr. Hansen is absolutely
You said if you lose here, that's the end of
the case -- I mean, if the Justice Department loses. If they win, you win. MR. SUNSHINE: that that's right. THE COURT: Well, Your Honor, I think
Let me explain. You said, "If we lose that day, I'm
I think we're going to be essentially done." quoting. MR. SUNSHINE: consistent, Your Honor. mean. I'm nothing if not
Let me explain exactly what I
Because I think Your Honor hit the nail on the
head earlier. We have a Section 7 case to prove that is the same Section 7 case that the DOJ approves. have the additional burden of standing. If Your Honor decides the Section 7 case on the basis of the DOJ case, when I said we're essentially done, that -- what I meant by that is you will have decided the issues as an all practical effect. We
67 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I don't think we're technically bound as a matter of collateral estoppel by those decisions because we are not present. But you would have
examined the whole record, you would have made the decision. And that's why the right answer, from an
efficiency perspective, is to do this once. Now, I think AT&T is trying to get everybody to turn into pretzels to really satisfy the mess that they've made for themselves, for the -- of the contractual obligations they've put in. And they've
really cynically manipulated the process with eight months of FCC, withdrawing the application, and now coming before you for an advisory opinion. I certainly support the DOJ's approach of now this isn't ripe. What AT&T should do, if they are
so convinced they are going to get this through the FCC, file a new application. you're doing. Tell us what transaction
Tell us when you're going to do that.
And then in that case Your Honor can set an appropriate schedule. It won't be an advisory
opinion, and we can do this once. We don't need to prove the Section 7 case once for DOJ, once for Sprint, once for Cellular South because it's the same record, same evidence. THE COURT: Could you refresh my
68 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 analysis. recollection? On the Section 7 materials that we
allowed DOJ to share, I believe, essentially, with you folks -MR. SUNSHINE: THE COURT: that's happened? MR. SUNSHINE: THE COURT: Well, those materials -That's right.
-- what are you missing now that
Let's just focus on Section 7. Right. Those materials, Your
Honor, were the materials related to the economic models that AT&T has put in with respect to its affirmative defenses. And so those models go to what
are the engineering models, how much are prices generally going to go up as a result of the merger. Those kinds of questions. They don't deal with market definition. They don't deal with some of those other kinds of questions. So it's an important part of the case, Your Honor, but there's certainly lots of other elements. THE COURT: Well, relative to what? Relative to the Section 7
We just briefly -- Section 7 analysis
requires product market definition. THE COURT: Yeah, but the Justice Department
69 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 is going to do that. with them anyways. You'll end up shadowing around I mean, I need to be practical. At the moment, we
Here's my thought, sir. have a lot of things in flux.
What I would like to
do -- I have made my ruling that they have to show in the private case. than once. You've litigated this really more
And I agree with the position of Sprint
and Cellular South that they have to show both the Section 7. And at least at the moment I believe that
if it happens that they win, the government and you have to proceed, that you should be getting discovery on your other -- your standing issues. There is going
to be precious little that won't be done by the Justice Department under the procedures that we have. So that I would like you to come up with a discovery schedule that allows them -- they're going forward, but we're going to limit it to the two issues that establish standing. South and one for Sprint. And that I will commit to make sure we don't have to unscramble the eggs. if necessary. We'll have to go by a PI There are two for Cellular
But if the Justice Department wins, it
may be over anyways -- well, if they win, it is over, and I suspect you are not going to do the Section 7. So I would think that if -- there really
70 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 isn't much that we have to worry about. I mean, I
can't -- I'm having trouble with the practicalities here other than you would like to be a full participant in the Section 7. We would have to slow things down. And
until I rule on the government's motion, I can't decide that. MR. SUNSHINE: Well, Your Honor, with one
amendment to that, I think we're on the same -- you know, we're clearly on the same time frame. We do have a private right of action under Section 16. Now, worst case scenario -- and I think
the chances of this may be the same as comet hitting the earth, but suppose DOJ were to settle the case with AT&T; we would still have our case. And so the proposal that we had made to you in the CMO would be to get, you know, basically discovery of the record without any interference. So basically all we're asking is to burn copies of the hard drives. And that way, Your Honor,
if we have to put on a case, if we have to go to a PI, we're ready. And there's no burden, so there's really
no reason not to do that. THE COURT: How big is that burn? I believe, Your Honor, since
71 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 parties. MR. SUNSHINE: Our proposal, Your Honor, It just it's materials that have already been produced in the litigation, they've already been harvested, processed, priv logged, reviewed. THE COURT: Produced by AT&T, not third
leaves third parties out of the equation.
says defendants will produce all of their materials. And that leaves us on a position to move quickly on a PI if we need to. THE COURT: that they want? MR. SUNSHINE: THE COURT: Yes, we have, Your Honor. Have you produced everything
It is done? It is done.
So the notion would be that they
produce what they produced to the Department of Justice that you don't already have? I mean, you have
certain things coming to you from the Department Of justice, and there's no point getting it twice. MR. SUNSHINE: total record, Your Honor. piece of it. THE COURT: understand. I'm sorry, just to make sure I That's a small portion of the But, yes, we have that
If you got what they have given to the
72 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that. But those two things, the remainder of the protective order, if you could just get a referral. be. THE COURT: And you can work out -- I've Department of Justice both during the investigatory stage -- and I don't know if there's anything been given since. MR. SUNSHINE: as I understand it. THE COURT: You are looking for AT&T, And then There has been quite a bit,
T-Mobile's production to the government.
you're willing to, for lack of a better word, be quiet for a while? MR. SUNSHINE: Correct. As quiet as I can
made the key ruling, I think, for the protective order. But you can work out the details of the
protective order and the referral. It appears that everyone seems to agree to a referral to the special master who's been unbelievably critical to this case moving. enough. I can't thank him
We would be wallowing if we didn't have him
to make decisions sometimes in the middle of the night. Okay. Well, I'll hear from Mr. Hansen on
73 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 And he would ask the parties, the special master, and I will ask on his behalf whether the declaration needs to be completed? Is that fair, Richard, whether you would expect his prior declarations so that we can get a referral done? MR. SUNSHINE: I haven't looked at it, Your
Honor, but I can't imagine that we would not be willing to accept it. THE COURT: So we can get the thing moving.
So your hypothetical, which is like some of the other hypotheticals that would cause us the heartburn is if there's a settlement, which you can't stop for some reason, then you'd want to go through with your suit. And you have to go quickly because we
are still dealing with the September 20 deadline. And, of course, AT&T wants, to be fair, to get that done sooner than later. But if the government files and the case gets withdrawn, where do you stand on that? MR. SUNSHINE: same position. We believe that we're in the
We don't know what transaction is We don't
going to -- is to eventually be proposed.
need to prosecute our case if their case is in limbo. THE COURT: So yours get stayed or withdrawn
74 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 noon. anything. without prejudice according to you as well? MR. SUNSHINE: I'd have to discuss that with
my client, but that's a sensible position. THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Hansen. We have a briefing schedule. Tuesday they You go up and down with them.
I think we are down to one issue now,
come -- let's see, by noon the government is filing whatever they're gonna file regarding the schedule of this matter. In the meantime, the Court is not stopping I haven't ruled, so therefore you
proceed -- I'm sorry, Mr. Wayland, could you stand that way so I can see him? MR. WAYLAND: Yes, I understand we are
proceeding along until you rule. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: Right, until I rule. Exactly. Tuesday puts you at the 13th by
ATT is going to have to file by Wednesday, the
close of the day. We can have a hearing on Thursday or Friday. It looks to me like it has to be in the afternoon in both instances. Is there any strong opposition? Thursday works better for my
75 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 schedule, Your Honor. MR. HANSEN: Whatever is most convenient We can do any day.
form the Court, Your Honor. THE COURT: MR. WAYLAND: THE COURT: MR. HANSEN: THE COURT: motion we have. 2:30?
On Thursday, Your Honor? 15th. Thank you. We'll have a hearing on whatever
I don't think at this point in time I Other than if
need anything further from Sprint.
anybody wants to give me any law on this collateral estoppel, I'd like to know. We're moving rather quickly, so Mr. Sunshine wants to do a memorandum of law on the issue. Because
your premise has been that there's some collateral estoppel effect from my ruling as to certain issues, I understand that. But -- okay. He's concerned --
On his issue.
Mr. Sunshine is concerned that nobody knows what the deal is. You say it is as it is. Well, he objects to
it as is, and he wants his day in court for his client in the event another hypothetical happens. Everybody
wants our time and attention in the event there are a bunch of hypotheticals. What's your response? If it's hypothetical,
76 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 now. I would be careful. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, I'm not going to go As to his hypothetical, we
back and plow old ground.
don't think that this is an occasion to unleash the eight million pages that's been released to the government. In the event something comes to pass, his
hypothetical, certainly there could be an adjustment to that. We don't honestly think we ought to redo
that issue and suddenly open the floodgates to -THE COURT: It's not a redo. We are here
I've got to rule.
There's still standing on
their case.
It's not a redo at all.
I said they weren't going to be part of your government case, but they want to be in the position to litigate and then move for a PI if the government, in some fashion, goes away and you still proceed. unless the deal changes, of course, then they would have to change the complaint. I don't see -- other than you need a confidentiality order, and, again, our special master can help with that. parties. a party. They are not looking for third And
They are not imposing upon anybody who isn't And it's their position that they have a
suit that's alive and well. I don't -- what's the next thing, other than
77 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 you have to burn some CDs? MR. HANSEN: Eight million pages,
obviously -- we're talking about a serious competitor, turning over all kinds of AT&T documents. think they need all of them. a discovery request. THE COURT: They want what you gave to the We don't
They haven't even framed
Department of Justice because they say Section 7 -- if I say that their claims include Section 7, they'll have to prove what the government does, and in addition they have the standing issues as to roaming and handsets. You think that you really want to take
up the time of the special master going through eight million documents to say, well, this really isn't relevant to the government's case? That's really what they are saying. They
are saying, we stand in the shoes of government plus some. MR. HANSEN: Your Honor, you said it best.
They can count on the government to deal with those issues. We don't think they need to back step the
government on all those points. THE COURT: Well, they only do if the
government, for some reason, drops out of the picture. MR. HANSEN: Then the issue can be addressed
78 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 at that time. There are all kinds of issues turning
over eight million pages of our corporate documents to Sprint on that hypothetical. If that comes to pass, then that could be adjusted at that time. to take that step. THE COURT: Would you agree they would be We don't think now is the time
entitled to have a PI hearing immediately if, in fact, they get -- are in the position -- they don't -- I don't see why we should say to them, well, you wait until after the 20th of September. they have to wait? I mean, why should
If I have to move fast for you, I
can move fast for them, too. MR. HANSEN: On the hypotheticals, Your
Honor, they obviously have tools available to them to try and advance the issue. I think it's -- obviously, At the appropriate
it's obviously a step by step.
time they do that, they would be entitled to certain things. They are not entitled where they are sitting
now as a private litigant to essentially get everything that the Department of Justice has gotten from us. We think based on a hypothetical, that's not appropriate. That is a big burden. It is -Sprint is a
confidentiality issues are important.
79 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 large competitor. This is sensitive stuff. We
honestly think that's not an appropriate step here. If the time comes when it is appropriate, the Court and special master will make sure they get their rights protected. But giving them all that
stuff right now on a hypothetical, we think -THE COURT: already have. that you have. MR. HANSEN: Some they have. They can frame Well, some of the stuff they
But we don't know what proportion of
more limited responses in the litigation to things not relevant to the government's case. THE COURT: Well, I think the easiest thing,
sir, before we get back here, I would like you to list, generic, what isn't relevant to their case so we know. You know what the stuff is. They want all that If there
you have given to the Justice Department.
are significant things, let's find out what they are, and then we'll know what the special master has to do instead of putting the burden on them. MR. HANSEN: MR. SUNSHINE: quick points? First of all, this idea that -THE COURT: Could you come to the mic. I'm Yes, Your Honor. Your Honor, if I may make two
80 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 sir. sorry. MR. SUNSHINE: This idea that one
hypothetical transaction should slow us down when what they're asking Your Honor to do is issue an advisory opinion on the basis of multiple hypotheticals is really rich. THE COURT: That hasn't been lost on anyone,
It's an obvious point. MR. SUNSHINE: The second point, which I
think is equally rich, although on a smaller way, is for Mr. Hansen to be complaining about concerns of giving documents to a competitor when they're sitting on millions of pages of Sprint's documents today. And the third point is Mr. Hansen is really trying to wish away our right granted by Congress. I'm sure he wishes Congress didn't grant us a private right of action, but they did. an active case. We have one. We have
They need to turn over the stuff.
There's no burden to it. THE COURT: All right. Where we stand now,
Mr. Sunshine, is by Tuesday the ATT, at noon, will tell us what of the universe they feel is strongly not related to a Section 7 case, and/or your standing issues of their production to the government. And they are gonna tell us what things
81 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that -- there may be a category of things that they think are protected in some fashion, so we know what we have because that will move us along. I don't expect you to come up with, you know -- let's assume the government asks them for materials that are related to their Section 7 case. I
don't know what else they were doing, but if they have something else up their sleeves, let's find out. we'll know what the fights are about. I don't find the burden argument particularly persuasive. And if you'll stay out of Then
everybody's hair in the meantime, then, frankly, that's a small price to pay. MR. SUNSHINE: THE COURT: Thank you, Your Honor.
I would ask that the Sprint and
Cellular South -- is there anything that Cellular South wants to add or subtract here? One minute, please. (Pause.) THE COURT: the special master. I have a special request from Anything he wants, goes. He
wants the parties to remain so he can discuss scheduling issues, if you don't mind. You are including private parties as well as government?
82 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 here. THE COURT: MR. McBRIDE: Your Honor. South. I don't know about that. Answering the Court's inquiry, SPECIAL MASTER LEVIE: Cellular South also -- Sprint. THE COURT: available for you? SPECIAL MASTER LEVIE: I can do it right Yes. ATT and
I'm sorry.
I'll make the jury room
Charles McBride on behalf of Cellular
Your Honor, we agree with everything
Mr. Sunshine has said and adopt the same positions as Sprint on all these matters today. THE COURT: All right. You have one other But to the extent
legal issue than folks out here.
that it makes anything easier, I have ruled on the legal dispute between the ATT and Cellular South, Sprint about the scope of discovery. That doesn't mean that what they are trying to protect won't be protected to some extent on relevance grounds or confidentiality. But I do not
believe that the plaintiffs here are precluded from looking into the question of -- or having to prove they have a burden of showing a Section 7 violation. And, if, once again, on a hypothetical, if we lose the government in the middle of this for some
83 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 claim. unknown and unpredictable reason, they will be stuck proving both the Section 7 -- the private parties will be stuck proving the Section 7 violation as well as standing. So I'm not foreclosing the idea of agreeing to the discovery that Sprint has asked for, but I'm giving them -- the defendants here, ATT and T-Mobile -- an opportunity to explain what's either not relevant -- listing by generics. I'm not
expecting you to go document by document, what's not relevant or what shouldn't be provided to the other side for some specific reason, but the legal reason is now off the table. MR. KELLOGG: Your Honor, may we be
permitted to brief the issue of just what Section 7 violation they have to prove? Because I think it is
common ground that they have to prove a Section 7 violation. But the Court has ruled that the DOJ
argument that the consolidation of these two companies will impede competition in mobile wireless services, thereby hurting consumers of those services, that they do not have standing to raise that claim. THE COURT: They can't recover for that
I don't think I have ruled. Yeah, you can brief it, and they can respond
84 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 by Tuesday. But I also want the list because I think
it's quite clear -- and I don't want to cut you off, but there was a lot of briefing that went on previously as part of this pretrial about this. And I certainly -- as part of my opinion, I assumed that that wasn't before me, that issue. just went on from there. I
I think the law is pretty
clear on the Supreme Court precedent. But you are welcome to address it, and Mr. Sunshine can respond. We are on a schedule that
now you have to tell us what shouldn't be produced based on my ruling, tentative ruling. You can tell me
why the ruling is wrong first, and then tell me what shouldn't be produced either because of relevance or because -- you have to assume I'll rule as I've ruled. MR. KELLOGG: THE COURT: Thank you, Your Honor. That would be Tuesday by noon,
and you'll have until Wednesday by the end of business to respond to that. The government will file their motion by Tuesday, noon, and ATT has until the end of business on Wednesday. hearing. I don't know that there's any other issues that need to be resolved. We have our days for our We will be back Thursday at 2:30 for a
85 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 tutorial at the moment. MR. McBRIDE: THE COURT: MR. McBRIDE: Your Honor, may I? Mm-hmm. Just for clarification. I
think the Court's referred to Sprint's discovery request. Throughout this discussion, obviously, we
would ask that Cellular South be included in that, and then add to that that Sprint's lawyers also should be given -- or we would request that they be given access to the roaming materials as well as the devices, even though roaming is not an issue for Cellular South. THE COURT: I'm not sure where your access I thought we were just
to materials -- sitting where?
talking about what ATT produced to the government either as part of the investigation or recently. MR. McBRIDE: THE COURT: MR. McBRIDE: might or might not say. That's correct, Your Honor. Nothing would be excluded. I'm anticipating what AT&T That, number one, that
Cellular South would have the same access to those materials as does Sprint. THE COURT: Yeah. I mean, I understood that
they were on your behalf. And if the parties would kindly -- we will close the courtroom now.
86 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 -o0ohearing. forward. Do you want to talk in the jury room? think that makes the most sense. Is there anything further? We have our next I
But in the meantime, all discovery will go We will not stay anything until the Court So I ask you to proceed.
rules next Thursday.
Thank you very much. MR. HANSEN: MR. WAYLAND: MR. SUNSHINE: Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you, Your Honor.
(Whereupon, at 11:03 a.m. the proceedings concluded.)
87 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
88 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 /s/ Chantal M. Geneus Chantal M. Geneus, RPR, CRR Official Court Reporter this I, Chantal M. Geneus, a Certified Realtime Reporter and Registered Professional Reporter of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, do hereby certify that I stenographically reported the proceedings in the matter of CA 11-1560, USA versus AT&T, et al., CA 11-1600, Sprint Nextel versus AT&T, et al., and CA 11-1690, Cellular South, et al. versus AT&T, et al, on Friday, December 9, 2011, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, before the Honorable Ellen S. Huvelle, United States District Judge. I further certify that the page numbers 1 through 87 constitute the official transcript of the proceedings as transcribed by me from my stenographic notes to the within typewritten matter. In witness whereof, I have affixed my signature 10th of December, 2011. REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE


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Board Member
Board Member
Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club
www.hsdfi.org [cached]
Sissi Bennett - Chairperson
hsnprotary.org [cached]
Sissi Bennett showed the
www.hsnprotary.org [cached]
Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute
www.hsdfi.org [cached]
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
www.hsdfi.org [cached]
"This is so important.
I'm on a bandstand about getting it preserved," Bennett said.
Jacqueline Bennett Depriest
Clive Bennett
Abell Pest Control Inc
William Bennett
Grand Geneva Resort
Gavin Bennett
Bicycle Therapeutics Limited
Larry Bennett
Dow Diversified Inc

subset: commoncrawl