AT&T Targeted Over Alleged Broadband Redlining in Cleveland

AT&T is being targeted with a lawsuit following accusations of broadband digital redlining. Attorney Daryl D. Parks (he represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown) of Florida law firm Parks & Crump and attorney Walter Madison from Akron (OH) are representing families in Cleveland (OH) who allege they have been "severely impacted" by a lack of connectivity and want a meeting with AT&T top brass to talk about it. They are threatening a lawsuit and Parks has written AT&T President Randall Stephenson asking for a meeting April 28 at the AT&T shareholders' meeting in Dallas (TX).

Parks said in the letter that the redlining was an invidious practice "copiously" documented by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance report that had irreparably injured his clients. AT&T is trying to get its Time Warner merger through the Department of Justice, an approval that could be complicated by such a suit. In fact, among the threshold Parks talks about in his letter is whether AT&T's behavior is "relevant to its FCC character qualifications or its DOJ competitive qualifications to complete its merger with Time Warner?"