Missouri City Complaint Against Hulu, Netflix Now in Federal Court

A civil complaint against Hulu and Netflix alleging the streaming services aren't paying required video service provider fees to Missouri municipalities is now in federal court, according to a joint notice of removal last week in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. The defendants said (in Pacer, docket 18-cv-01495-SNLJ) that federal court has jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act since the putative class is more than 100; the plaintiff -- Creve Coeur, Missouri -- is a citizen of a different state than the defendants; and the relief the plaintiff seeks could add up to more than $5 million. In the complaint, filed in July in St. Louis County Circuit Court, Creve Coeur alleged Hulu and Netflix provide video programming over wireline facilities located even partly in public rights of way, as covered in the state's Video Services Providers Act, and need to pay required fees.