Slew of LFA Challenge Plaintiffs Seen Reflecting Communities' Concerns
The plethora of municipality and state plaintiffs that have challenged the FCC’s cable TV local franchise authority order in court XXXXX points to how problematic so many of them see that order, localities, lawyers and allies tell us. While no more suits are coming, some foresee multiple intervenors filing on the plaintiffs’ behalf in next couple weeks.
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XXXXX communities are named plaintiffs in XXXS suits challenging the order. They range from and the state of Hawaii. With the deadline for petitons for review having passed last week, there won't be further parties, NATOA General Cousnel Nancy Werner told us.
Gaithersburg, Maryland, Mayor Jud Ashman told us.
The prevalence of plaintiffs doesn't affect legal strategy and allows for the legal costs to be more widely shared, said Brian Grogan of Moss
More than legal costs, numerous jurisidctions have jumped in because of concerns about the order, NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner told us. It’s expected the FCC will soon take up public, educational and government channel capacity issues, which the August order avoided (see 1908210058) and that’s likely to cause LFAs even more grief, she said. That’s why localities feel the need to challenge the FCC framewor now “and not wait for the other shoe to drop,” she said. She said NATOA didn't reach out to communities to initiate a challenge to the order. "They contacted me," she said. "It didn't take coordination."
Locality interests don't see a downside to so many order challengers. Werner said different communities will be able to articulate different ways the FCC order was wrong and its impact,
American University Professor of Practice in Administrative Law Jeff Lubbers said legally there's no difference between one challenger to an agency action and multiple ones, though it could show the court how important the issue is. There also could be political gain for communities challenging the order and then showing how they challenged the administration and being able to take credit for a win, he said.
The numerous plaintiffs shouldn't prolong adjudication of the case, legal experts said.