Smartcomm Suit Against ‘Communications Daily’ Dismissed With Prejudice
Arizona State Superior Court in Maricopa County dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit filed by Smartcomm LLC against Warren Communications News, charging Warren and its Communications Daily with libel and disclosing trade secrets. The dismissal resulted from Smartcomm’s decision to drop the suit, in a settlement in which Warren neither admitted any inaccuracies nor paid any damages.
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The suit, filed June 8, 2012, resulted from a March 5, 2012, story in which Communications Daily reported that Smartcomm was selling license preparation services for 800 MHz spectrum that wasn’t then available from the FCC (CD March 5/12 p3). It also reported that the spectrum will have little commercial value and that Smartcomm was charging many times as much for the preparation services as would Washington-based consultants who normally deal with the FCC, though Smartcomm later contended it was providing more than simple application services.
The story, written by then-Communications Daily reporter Adam Bender, was recently a runner up to another Communications Daily story in the Society of Professional Journalists’ contest for best newsletter Washington reporting. It also won a third place award for best investigative reporting from the Specialized Information Publishers Association.
Smartcomm LLC was co-founded in 2007 by the late Pendleton Waugh after he served time in prison and was under FCC investigation. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to structure financial transactions to evade securities and banking reporting requirements. He also was ordered to disgorge $13 million in illegally acquired funds, Communications Daily reported. Waugh died in 2011 of a heart attack.
When asked to comment, Smartcomm said it “does not wish to comment publicly on the litigation.” It did, however, say those interested could contact Smartcomm General Counsel Rob Somers.