Partner Alysa Z. Hutnik was quoted in the Law360 article “Telecoms Freed From FTC Grasp In 9th Circ. AT&T Ruling.” The article discusses how the Ninth Circuit on Monday took a broad view of the common carrier exemption to the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement authority in striking down its data throttling action against AT&T, a move that effectively places telecoms outside the reach of the regulator. Ms. Hutnik explained that “Whether a company’s common carrier ‘status’ was sufficient to strip jurisdiction from FTC oversight used to be as clear as mud. With this Ninth Circuit decision that a company’s ‘status’ prevails over its ‘activities,’ that makes it a very tough road for the FTC to bring any type of Section 5 of the FTC Act claim against any company that can viably claim common carrier status, even if it engages only minimally in common carrier activities.”

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Law360 Quotes Partner Alysa Z. Hutnik on 9th Circuit AT&T Ruling