Charter, Broadcaster Clash Over Standing Issue Under California Civil Rights Law
Charter Communications and California broadcaster Tara Broadcasting are at odds in federal court over whether the California Supreme Court should decide standing issues under the California Unruh Civil Rights Act. In a docket 18-56518 filing Monday (in Pacer) with the…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Charter said Tara's motion to certify questions to the California court is premature since merits briefing hasn't begun and misrepresents the "many reasons" a U.S. district court dismissed Tara's claims of racial discrimination in Charter not electing to carry Tara's low-power TV station on its Palm Springs channel lineup. It said California law is clear plaintiffs lack Unruh Act standing if they haven't personally experienced discrimination, and Tara's own allegation is that Palm Springs Latino and senior citizen residents are the ones being discriminated against by not getting Tara content aimed at them. Tara's motion (in Pacer) said the question of whether it has standing exclusively involves California discrimination law and needs to be referred to that state's Supreme Court for resolution. It said the lower court created a conflict in California law on when statistical evidence can be used to establish intentional discrimination under Unruh.