Social media companies are “ruthlessly extracting every dollar possible with callous disregard for the harm to mental health,” said a Friday class action (docket 2:23-cv-1233) filed by Irvington Public Schools in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark. It’s one of several similar cases linking social media platforms from Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, Snap, TikTok and Google with rising rates of mental health issues among kids (see 2302170051).

T-Mobile removed to U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago what’s believed to be the 13th class action nationally arising from the company’s Jan. 19 disclosure that bad actors accessed the accounts of 37 million current postpaid and prepaid customers (see 2301230046). T-Mobile’s notice of removal Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-01263) of the complaint filed Jan. 24 in Cook County Circuit Court broke its nearly six weeks of silence since the first of the class actions was filed against the carrier Jan. 21.

Defendant Vintage Stock doesn’t deny any of the allegations of plaintiffs Sheila and Dennis Thompson that the home entertainment retailer sent them dozens of text message solicitations to numbers listed on the national and Missouri do not call registries, said the Thompsons’ memorandum Wednesday (docket 4:23-cv-00042) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Missouri in St. Louis in opposition to Vintage Stock’s Feb. 8 motion to dismiss their Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims for lack of standing (see 2302090045).

Vox’s lawsuit alleging Gage Technologies conspired with two of its former employees to steal trade secrets should be dismissed because the plaintiff failed to adequately plead trade secret misappropriation or to identify trade secrets with “sufficient particularity,” said defendants' Tuesday motion (docket 3:22-cv-09135) to dismiss in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco.

The federal Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) doesn’t preempt states from taxing digital advertising, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) argued Wednesday at the state’s highest court.

A June 2020 wireless infrastructure declaratory ruling merely clarified existing rules, the FCC told a federal appeals court Wednesday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month resumed a long-paused case on a League of California Cities challenge to the FCC decision clarifying shot clock and substantial change rules (see 2302070041). The FCC said in a brief it made no procedural errors and reasonably interpreted its rules (case 20-71765).

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) seeks dismissal of allegations in his Oct. 12 "superseding" criminal indictment that he accepted bribes from AT&T in return for enacting the company’s favored carrier of last resort (COLR) legislation under his watch, said his motion Tuesday (docket 1:22-cr-00115) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. With Madigan's influence, including on a vote to override a gubernatorial veto, the COLR legislation (HB-1811) cleared the House and later became law in the summer of 2017.

Congress never intended to prohibit state actions “for injuries resulting from cell phone use” when it enacted the Communications Act and the Telecommunications Act, said Frank Walker's family survivors, in an opposition Tuesday (docket 2:21-cv-00923) in U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana in Lake Charles. Industry filed a motion in October to dismiss their complaint on grounds that their claims are preempted by federal law (see 2210180078).

T-Mobile misled its wireless “sub-dealers” when it announced that “hundreds of stores” would be opened after its 2020 Sprint buy, alleged five such sub-dealer plaintiffs in a class action Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-1582) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. T-Mobile instead embarked on a "concealed and undisclosed corporate strategy" to eliminate the sub-dealers nationally, alleged the plaintiffs.

Verizon Wireless engages in “bait-and-switch” schemes by prominently advertising flat monthly rates on postpaid plans and then charging higher rates after customers sign up for service, alleges a Monday fraud class action (docket 3:23-cv-01138) in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Trenton.