Ruling in Comcast Set-Top Box Litigation Appealed

With a federal court having tossed out a proposed $15.5 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Comcast, the plaintiffs are asking for a stay as they appeal. A motion to stay -- unopposed by Comcast, according to court paperwork -- was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. The motion said the stay is needed because an appeal of U.S. District Judge Anita Brody's decision (see 1511060011) could result in certification of a settlement class in the case. The multidistrict litigation is a combination of 24 civil actions against Comcast consolidated in 2009, alleging the cable company wrongfully tied subscribing to its Premium Cable tier to rental of a Comcast set-top box. In her rejection of the proposed settlement earlier this month, Brody said a better model for determining who was eligible to be a member of the class was needed. In a petition for permission to appeal Brody's order filed Monday with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the petitioners said district courts too often use "a rigid manner to prevent class certification" in cases where records might be incomplete and that such an appeal was a chance for the court "to clarify that plaintiffs in consumer class cases can meet the ascertainability threshold even when defendant companies have discarded a number of their customers' records."