Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Aug 17
Supreme Court Rejects Verizon's $47 Million FCC Refund Bid, Closing Review Path
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Aug 17

Supreme Court Rejects Verizon's $47 Million FCC Refund Bid, Closing Review Path

2 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Aug 17

Summary

  • $47 million is likely gone for Verizon after the Supreme Court denied, without explanation, its bid to recover an FCC fine over mobile location-data sales.
  • The denial appears to end Verizon's chance to send the case back to a lower court and argue the fine itself was unlawful after it already lost on the FCC's penalty process.
  • Verizon had said the FCC effectively tricked it into paying in 2024 by presenting the forfeiture as binding, then later arguing carriers could have refused payment and forced a collection suit.
  • In June, the court ruled 8-1 against Verizon and AT&T on the Seventh Amendment issue, saying jury trials were available only if carriers declined to pay first.
  • AT&T and T-Mobile are still contesting similar penalties from the FCC's $196 million crackdown on carriers that sold customers' real-time location data without consent.

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