Verizon Says Comcast/NAD Complaint Unfair Due to Conflict of Interest

Verizon, accused by the National Advertising Division of not responding to a Comcast complaint about Fios advertising (see 1706210065), said it will "happily demonstrate [its] performance superiority in a neutral and proper forum." It said it "offered to respond to Comcast's frivolous complaint in the NAD process," but NAD "refused to resolve a conflict of interest" resulting from a former NAD official who had participated in previous Verizon cases and is now representing Comcast "on substantially similar matters." Former Deputy Director David Mallen is now an advertising disputes lawyer at Loeb & Loeb. Mallen didn't comment Thursday. Verizon said it "regrets that NAD was unwilling to address this fundamental unfairness." NAD didn't comment.