New York Urges Court to Hear Broadband Speeds Case

New York’s broadband-speeds lawsuit against Charter is “a paradigm exercise of the State’s police power to protect its citizens from deceptive and fraudulent practices,” New York said in opposition Monday to Charter’s motion to dismiss at the New York Supreme Court. The company asked for dismissal after a U.S. District Court returned the case to state court in April (see 1705110025). FCC transparency rules don't pre-empt state consumer protection laws, New York said. The state disagreed with the company's argument that advertising maximum speeds isn’t deceptive. Those speeds are "impossible to attain because of … deficient network management practices and obsolete in-home equipment,” New York said. "Telling customers that their plans could go 'up to' specified Internet speeds when in fact they cannot is straightforward deception." New York disagreed the court should stay the case until the FCC rules on an NCTA/USTelecom request for broadband speed disclosure rules (see 1706190050): “Not only does this argument fail to appreciate the Court’s competence and authority to adjudicate state consumer protection claims, it is a transparent effort to delay this Court’s resolution while lobbying the FCC to support Spectrum-TWC’s legal arguments here.”