Dillinger v. AT&T Inc

Filing 8

TRANSFER ORDER direcing the transfer of this case to the Northern District of Illinois to become part of MDL No. 1997. Signed by Chairman of Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. (Attachments: # 1 Transfer Letter)(mkf)[Transferred from Arkansas Eastern on 12/17/2008.]

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Filed: 12/3/08 Lead 08cv7082 Judge: Kennelly Magistrate Judge: Brown By Jakeia Mells on Dec 03, 2008 UNITED STATES JUDICIAL PANEL on MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION Dec 03, 2008 IN RE: TEXT MESSAGING ANTITRUST LITIGATION MDL No. 1997 TRANSFER ORDER Before the entire Panel*: Plaintiffs in actions pending in the Northern District of Illinois, the Eastern District of Louisiana, and the District of District of Columbia have moved, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407, for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings of this litigation as follows: (1) plaintiffs in two Northern District of Illinois actions have moved for centralization in the Northern District of Illinois or, alternatively, the District of New Jersey; (2) plaintiffs in the Eastern District of Louisiana action have moved for centralization in the Eastern District of Louisiana or, alternatively, the Northern District of Ohio; and (3) plaintiff in one District of District of Columbia action has moved for centralization in the District of District of Columbia. Responding plaintiffs and defendants agree that centralization is appropriate and variously support one or more of the suggested transferee districts or the following districts: the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the District of Puerto Rico, or the Western District of Washington. This litigation currently consists of sixteen actions listed on Schedule A and pending in twelve districts: three actions in the Northern District of Illinois; two actions each in the District of District of Columbia and the Southern District of Mississippi; and one action each in the Eastern District of Arkansas, the District of Kansas, the Eastern District of Louisiana, the District of New Jersey, the Northern District of Ohio, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the District of Puerto Rico, the Eastern District of Texas, and the Northern District of Texas. 1 On the basis of the papers filed and hearing session held, we find that these actions involve common questions of fact, and that centralization under Section 1407 in the Northern District of Illinois will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient * Judge Motz and Judge Miller did not participate in the disposition of this matter. The Panel has been notified that fifteen additional related actions have been filed: three actions in the Northern District of Illinois; two actions each in the District of Kansas and the Eastern District of New York; and one action each in the Northern District of Alabama, the District of Arizona, the Northern District of California, the Southern District of Illinois, the Southern District of Mississippi, the District of Nevada, theCOPY-ATTEST A TRUE District of Puerto Rico, and the Western District of MICHAEL W. DOBBINS, tag-along actions. See Rules 7.4 and 7.5, Washington. These actions will be treated as potentialCLERK R.P.J.P.M.L., 199 F.R.D. 425, 435-36s/ WILLIE A. HAYNES By (2001). DEPUTY CLERK U.S. DISTRICT COURT, NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS DATE: DECEMBER 12, 2008 1 -2conduct of this litigation. These actions share factual questions relating to allegations that defendants conspired to fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize the price of text messaging services sold in the United States in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Centralization under Section 1407 will eliminate duplicative discovery; prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, especially with respect to class certification; and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary. We are persuaded that the Northern District of Illinois is an appropriate transferee forum for this litigation. This district, where six actions are now pending, provides a relatively central forum for this nationwide litigation. In addition, Judge Matthew F. Kennelly has the time and experience to steer this docket on a prudent course. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407, the actions listed on Schedule A and pending outside the Northern District of Illinois are transferred to the Northern District of Illinois and, with the consent of that court, assigned to the Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings with the actions pending there. PANEL ON MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION ____________________________________ John G. Heyburn II Chairman J. Frederick Motz* Kathryn H. Vratil W. Royal Furgeson, Jr. Robert L. Miller, Jr.* David R. Hansen IN RE: TEXT MESSAGING ANTITRUST LITIGATION MDL No. 1997 SCHEDULE A Eastern District of Arkansas Tina L. Dillinger v. AT&T, Inc., C.A. No. 4:08-3008 District of District of Columbia Kim A. Cosgrove v. Verizon Wireless, et al., C.A. No. 1:08-1575 Marie Fernandez v. Verizon Wireless, et al., C.A. No. 1:08-1621 Northern District of Illinois Vaughanzella Smith-Howard, et al. v. AT&T, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 1:08-5198 Kevin Konkel, et al. v. AT&T, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 1:08-5353 Mathieu Brousseau, et al. v. AT&T, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 1:08-5401 District of Kansas Lourdes Leslie v. Sprint Nextel Corp., et al., C.A. No. 2:08-2432 Eastern District of Louisiana Andee Roussel, et al. v. AT&T Mobility, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 2:08-4408 Southern District of Mississippi Rodney Cain v. AT&T Mobility, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 1:08-632 Kenny Knight, et al. v. AT&T Mobility LLC, et al., C.A. No. 3:08-592 District of New Jersey Cuneo-Leider Management & Development Corp. v. Verizon Wireless, et al., C.A. No. 3:08-4621 Northern District of Ohio Susan Orians, et al. v. AT&T, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 3:08-2191 08cv7091 08cv7090 08cv7088 08cv7089 08cv7087 08cv7086 08cv7083 08cv7084 08cv7085 - A2 - MDL No. 1997 Schedule A (Continued) Eastern District of Pennsylvania 08cv7092 Mark Reinhart v. Verizon Wireless, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 5:08-4607 District of Puerto Rico Luis A. Maldonado-Mercado v. Verizon Wireless, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 3:08-2100 Eastern District of Texas Joseph F. Clark v. Verizon Wireless, et al., C.A. No. 1:08-549 Northern District of Texas Christiane Trujillo v. Verizon Wireless, et al., C.A. No. 3:08-1628 08cv7095 08cv7094 08cv7093 Printed on 12/03/2008 Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation - Panel Attorney Service List for MDL 1997 - IN RE: Text Messaging Antitrust Litigation *** Report Key and Title Page *** Please Note: This report is in alphabetical order by the last name of the attorney. A party may not be represented by more then one attorney. See Panel rule 5.2(c). Party Representation Key * Signifies that an appearance was made on behalf of the party by the representing attorney. # Specified party was dismissed in some, but not all, of the actions in which it was named as a party. All counsel and parties no longer active in this litigation have been suppressed. This Report is Based on the Following Data Filters Docket: 1997 - Text Messaging AT For Open Cases Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation - Panel Attorney Service List Docket: 1997 - IN RE: Text Messaging Antitrust Litigation Status: Transferred on 12/03/2008 Transferee District: ILN ATTORNEY - FIRM ALLTEL Corp., One Allied Drive Little Rock, AR 72202 Page 1 Judge: Kennelly, Matthew F. REPRESENTED PARTY(S) Printed on 12/03/2008 => ALLTEL Corp. Becnel, Jr, Daniel E. BECNEL LAW FIRM LLC 106 West Seventh Street P.O. Drawer H Reserve, LA 70084 => Phone: (985) 536-1186 Fax: (985) 536-6445 Email: dbecnel@becnellaw.com Hotard, Katie*; Roussel, Andee* Butswinkas, Dane H. WILLIAMS & CONNELLY LLP 725 12th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20005 => Phone: (202) 434-5110 Sprint Nextel Corp.* Fax: (202) 434-5029 Email: dbutswinkas@wc.com Clobes, Bryan L. CAFFERTY FAUCHER LLP 1717 Arch Street Suite 3610 Philadelphia, PA 19103 => Phone: (215) 864-2800 Dolatowski, Kathryn* Fax: (215) 864-2810 Email: bclobes@caffertyfaucher.com Coffman, Richard L. COFFMAN LAW FIRM First City Building 505 Orleans Street Suite 505 Beaumont, TX 77701 => Phone: (409) 833-7700 Fax: (866) 835-8250 Email: rc@cofflaw.com Clark, Joseph F.*; Trujillo, Christiane* Fait, Mary Jane WOLF HALDENSTEIN ADLER FREEMAN & HERZ LLC 55 West Monroe Street Suite 1111 Chicago, IL 60603 => Phone: (312) 984-0000 Fax: (312) 984-0001 Email: fait@whafh.com Marshall, Julian*; Polk, Rita*; Polk-Stamps, Melanie*; Smith-Howard, Vaughanzella* Frederick, Thomas J. WINSTON & STRAWN LLP 35 West Wacker Drive, 45th Floor Chicago, IL 60601 => Phone: (312) 558-5983 Fax: (312) 558-5700 Email: tfrederick@winston.com Cellco Partnership dba Verizon Wireless*; Verizon Communications, Inc.* Germaine, David P. VANEK VICKERS & MASINI PC 111 South Wacker Drive Suite 4050 Chicago, IL 60606 => Phone: (312) 224-1505 Fernandez, Marie* Fax: (312) 224-1510 Email: dgermaine@vaneklaw.com Hockett, Christopher B. DAVIS POLK & WARDWELL 1600 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA 94025 => Phone: (650) 752-2000 T-Mobile USA, Inc.* Fax: (650) 752-2111 Email: chris.hockett@dpw.com Note: Please refer to the report title page for complete report scope and key. (Panel Attorney Service List for MDL 1,997 Continued) Page 2 ATTORNEY - FIRM Kilsheimer, Richard J. KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP 850 Third Avenue 14th Floor New York, NY 10022 REPRESENTED PARTY(S) => Phone: (212) 687-1980 Cosgrove, Kim A.* Fax: (212) 687-7714 Email: rkilsheimer@kaplanfox.com Love, Kevin Bruce CRIDEN & LOVE PA 7301 S.W. 57th Court Suite 515 South Miami, FL 33143 => Phone: (305) 357-9000 Leslie, Lourdes* Fax: (305) 357-9050 Email: klove@cridenlove.com Lovell, Christopher LOVELL STEWART HALEBIAN LLP 500 Fifth Avenue Floor 58 New York, NY 10110 => Phone: (212) 608-1900 Fax: (212) 719-4775 Email: clovell@lshllp.com Cuneo-Leider Management & Development Corp.* Miller, Marvin Allen MILLER LAW LLC 115 South LaSalle Street Suite 2910 Chicago, IL 60603 => Phone: (312) 332-3400 Fax: (312) 676-2676 Email: mmiller@millerlawllc.com Brousseau, Mathieu; Konkel, Kevin; McLaughlin, Laurie; Premiere Investment Consulting; Robb, Jeffrey; Smith, Elizabeth Nast, Dianne M. RODANAST PC 801 Estelle Drive Lancaster, PA 17601 => Phone: (717) 892-3000 Reinhart, Mark* Fax: (717) 892-1200 Email: dnast@rodanast.com Penton, Ronnie G. LAW OFFICE OF RONNIE G PENTON 209 Hoppen Place Bogalusa, LA 70427 => Phone: (985) 732-5651 Cain, Rodney* Fax: (985) 735-5579 Email: dischilling@rgplaw.com Poynter, Scott E. EMERSON POYNTER LLP The Museum Center 500 President Clinton Avenue Suite 305 Little Rock, AR 72201 => Phone: (501) 907-2555 Dillinger, Tina L.* Fax: (501) 907-2556 Email: scott@emersonpoynter.com Salas, III, Camilo K. SALAS & CO LC 650 Poydras Street Suite 1660 New Orleans, LA 70130 => Phone: (504) 799-3080 Fax: (504) 799-3085 Email: csalas@salaslaw.com Maldonado-Mercado, Luis A.* Sweet, III, Dennis C. WILLIAMS GRUBBS 158 E. Pascagoula Street Jackson, MS 39201 => Phone: (601) 965-8700 Fax: (601) 965-8719 Knight, Kenny*; Williams, Bonnie* Note: Please refer to the report title page for complete report scope and key. (Panel Attorney Service List for MDL 1,997 Continued) Page 3 ATTORNEY - FIRM T-Mobile International AG, Landgrabenweg 151 53227 Bonn, Germany REPRESENTED PARTY(S) => T-Mobile International AG Treece, John W. SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP One South Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60603 => Phone: (312) 853-2937 Fax: (312) 853-7036 Email: jtreece@sidley.com AT&T Mobility, LLC*; AT&T, Inc.* Verizon Wireless, One Verizon Way Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 => Verizon Wireless; Verizon Wireless, Inc. Vodafone Group PLC, Vodafone House The Connections Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2FN England => Vodafone Group PLC Zoll, David W. ZOLL KRANZ & BORGESS LLC 6620 West Central Avenue Suite 200 Toledo, OH 43617 => Phone: (419) 841-9623 Weaver, Brandon* Fax: (419) 841-9719 Email: david@toledolaw.com Flores, Zac*; Kastel, Kim*; Kastel, Kristen*; Keener, Mecca*; Orians, Susan*; Reaster, James*; Note: Please refer to the report title page for complete report scope and key.

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