Wireless Communications Trade Association Responds to FCC Ruling

In April 2014, the FCC issued a Memorandum Opinion & Order denying a petition filed by Solvable Frustrations, Inc., a social network that “aggregates consumer complaints” against “wayward corporations.” The Petition sought to have the FCC adopt class action procedures that would allow consumers to bypass the federal courts and file class action complaints against regulated entities before the FCC.

Our firm prepared comments for our client, a trade association representing the wireless communications industry in the U.S., in response to the Petition. The comments warned that, if adopted, the proposed rules “would create an ineffective, inefficient substitute for the public and private remedies that already exist, and would require a staggering diversion of the Commission’s resources.”

After 19 months—during which the Petitioner shuttered its website—the FCC issued a Memorandum Opinion & Order that adopted our client's arguments and held that “it would be contrary to public policy to divert limited Commission resources to the adjudication of class actions when aggrieved parties may bring such actions before the federal courts.”