4th Circuit Delays Briefing Schedule for 5th Time in 3 Related Altice Appeals
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals extended the briefing deadlines in the three related cases (dockets 23-1142, 23-1145 and 23-1146) in which Altice is appealing the lower court’s denial of its motions to compel arbitration and to stay the…
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litigation pending the outcome of those arbitrations. It’s the fifth deadline extension since the appeals were docketed Feb. 8 (see 2302090037). Under the revised schedule, Altice’s opening brief is due Sept. 5, and the plaintiff-appellees’ responding brief is due Oct. 5, said a signed clerk’s order Tuesday. The plaintiffs in all three actions in U.S. District Court for Southern West Virginia in Charleston alleged Altice USA’s Suddenlink broadband and pay-TV offering failed to provide “safe, adequate and reliable service to its West Virginia subscribers.” When Suddenlink -- rebranded Optimum last summer -- tried to compel its customers’ disputes to arbitration, the lower court ruled the arbitration agreements the customers consented to were unconscionable and unenforceable, partly because Suddenlink revised its terms of service at least five times between September 2019 and October 2021, plus twice more during the litigation.