Ferguson v. T-Mobile USA Inc

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: March 3, 2023
• Docket: 2:23-cv-00142
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7

TAMARA FERGUSON and BRIAN HEINZ,

9 individually and on behalf of others similarly

situated, No. 2:23-cv-142-JCC 10 Plaintiffs, STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] 11 ORDER TO STAY CASE PENDING v. THE JUDICIAL PANEL ON 12 MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION’S T-MOBILE USA, INC., RULING ON THE PENDING 13 MOTION TO TRANSFER Defendant. 14 NOTE ON MOTION CALENDAR: March 2, 2023 15

16 Under Western District of Washington Local Rules 7(d)(1) and 10(g), Plaintiffs Tamara 17 Ferguson and Brian Heinz and Defendant T-Mobile USA, Inc., move the Court to stay all 18 proceedings and deadlines in this action until the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation 19 (“JPML”) rules on the pending petition to transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 (“Petition”). See In re 20 T-Mobile 2022 Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig. (“In re: T-Mobile”), MDL No. 3073 (ECF 21 No. 1). If the JPML denies the Petition, T-Mobile’s response to the Complaint will be due 30 days 22 from that denial. In support of this motion, the Parties state: 23 STIPULATED MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS Perkins Coie LLP (No. 2:23-cv-142-JCC) - 1 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 24 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 1 Plaintiffs filed this case on January 31, 2023. See ECF No. 1. Plaintiffs allege T-Mobile 2 failed to adequately safeguard the personal information of its customers from a criminal third-party 3 actor. Id. The plaintiffs in more than 10 putative class actions have made similar allegations against 4 T-Mobile based on the same data-security incident. See In re T-Mobile, MDL No. 3073 (ECF No.

5 1-1). Those cases are pending in at least nine federal judicial districts. See In re T-Mobile, MDL 6 No. 3037 (ECF No. 1-2). 7 This Court recently stayed a related case against T-Mobile pending the JPML’s transfer 8 ruling. Dollson v. T-Mobile US, Inc., No. 1:23-cv-172 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 28, 2023) (ECF No. 24). 9 And other courts in this district have previously done the same. E.g., Daruwalla v. T-Mobile USA, 10 Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01118-BJR (W.D. Wash. Oct. 29, 2021) (ECF No. 39); Rogoff v. T-Mobile USA, 11 Inc., No. 2:21-CV-01157-BJR, 2021 WL 5279921, at *1 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 12, 2021). Courts in 12 this district have also recognized that conserving resources presents good cause for a stay when 13 there is a pending JPML petition.1 14 This case was noticed to the JPML as related to Clark v. T-Mobile US, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-

15 00103 (W.D. Wash.). See In re: T-Mobile, MDL No. 3073 (ECF No. 1-2). Because it is possible 16 the JPML will grant the pending Petition to transfer and coordinate or consolidate the related 17 cases—including this one—for pretrial proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 1407, the Parties think 18 staying this case will conserve their resources and the Court’s. See Daruwalla, No. 2:21-cv-01118- 19

20 1 See, e.g., Donovan v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01138-BJR (W.D. Wash. Sept. 20, 2021) (ECF No. 13); Akins v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01179-BJR (W.D. Wash. Sept. 20, 2021) (ECF No. 11); Hughes v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01139-BJR (W.D. Wash. Sept. 20, 2021) (ECF No. 15); Villalon v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21- 21 cv-1148-BJR (W.D. Wash. Sept. 20, 2021) (ECF No. 13); Espanoza v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-1119-BJR (W.D. Wash. Sept. 20, 2021) (ECF No. 30); Huerta v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01183-BJR (W.D. Wash. 22 Sept. 29, 2021) (ECF No. 10); Brackman v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01277-BJR (W.D. Wash. Oct. 6, 2021) (ECF No. 13); Schupler v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:21-01161-BJR (W.D. Wash. Nov. 1, 2021) (ECF No. 9).

23 STIPULATED MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS Perkins Coie LLP (No. 2:23-cv-142-JCC) - 2 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 24 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 1 BJR (ECF No. 39). Under these circumstances, “[c]ourts frequently grant stays pending a decision 2 by the MDL Panel regarding whether to transfer a case.” Good v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 5 F. 3 Supp. 2d 804, 809 (N.D. Cal. 1998). 4 The Court should grant the Parties a short stay of proceedings until the JPML rules on the

5 Petition. And if the JPML denies the Petition, T-Mobile’s response to the Complaint will be due 6 30 days from that denial. 7 Dated: March 2, 2023 8 9 By: /s/Kaleigh N. Boyd By: /s/ Lauren J. Tsujij

10 Kim D. Stephens, P.S., WSBA No. 11984 Lauren J. Tsuji, WSBA No. 55839 Jason T. Dennett, WSBA No. 30686 PERKINS COIE LLP 11 Kaleigh N. Boyd, WSBA No. 52684 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 TOUSLEY BRAIN STEPHENS PLLC Seattle, WA 98101-3099 12 1200 5th Avenue, Suite 1700 Telephone: 206.359.8000 Seattle, WA 98101 Facsimile: 206.359.9000 13 Telephone: (206) 682-5600 Email: LTsuji@perkinscoie.com kstephens@tousley.com 14 jdennett@tousley.com Kristine McAlister Brown (Pro Hac Vice) kboyd@tousley.com Donald Houser (Pro Hac Vice) 15 ALSTON & BIRD LLP Attorneys for Plaintiffs 1201 West Peachtree Street 16 Atlanta, GA 30309 Telephone: (404) 881-7000 17 Facsimile: (404) 881-7777 E-Mail: kristy.brown@alston.com 18 donald.houser@alston.com

19 Attorneys for Defendant T-Mobile USA, Inc. 20 21 22

23 STIPULATED MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS Perkins Coie LLP (No. 2:23-cv-142-JCC) - 3 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 24 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 1 2 [ PROPOSED] ORDER 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 DATED this 3rd day of March 2023. 5 A 6 7 8 John C. Coughenour UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 9 Presented By:

10 Lauren J. Tsuji, WSBA No. 55839 PERKINS COIE LLP 11 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 12 Telephone: 206.359.8000 Facsimile: 206.359.9000 13 Email: LTsuji@perkinscoie.com

14 Kristine McAlister Brown (Pro Hac Vice) Donald Houser (Pro Hac Vice) 15 ALSTON & BIRD LLP 1201 West Peachtree Street 16 Atlanta, GA 30309 Telephone: (404) 881-7000 17 Facsimile: (404) 881-7777 E-Mail: kristy.brown@alston.com 18 donald.houser@alston.com

19 Attorneys for Defendant T-Mobile USA, Inc. 20

21 22 23 STIPULATED MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS Perkins Coie LLP (No. 2:23-cv-142-JCC) - 4 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 24 Seattle, WA 98101-3099