Superior Court of Washington for Snohomish
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FILED 2020 APR 15 03:43 PM 1 KING COUNTY THE HONORABLE BRIAN M. MCDONALD SUPERIOR COURT CLERK 1 E-FILED CASE #: 20-2-07428-4 SEA 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTON 9 IN AND FOR KING COUNTY 10 WASHINGTON LEAGUE FOR 11 INCREASED TRANSPARENCY & ETHICS, a Washington non-profit No. 20-2-07428-4 SEA 12 corporation; JOHN DOE and JANE DOE 1- 13 1,000, FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR BREACH OF THE WASHINGTON 14 Plaintiff, CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT RCW 19. 86 15 v. 16 FOX CORPORATION, a Delaware 17 corporation; FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC, a Delaware corporation d/b/a FOX NEWS 18 CHANNEL; FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, a for profit company d/b/a/ FOX BUSINESS; 19 JOHN MOE and JANE MOE, 1-100, 20 Defendants. 21 Plaintiff(s) Washington League for Increased Transparency & Ethics, a Washington 22 non-profit corporation (WASHLITE) and JOHN DOE and JANE DOE 1-1,000 allege: 23 24 25 First Amended Complaint - 1 LAW OFFICE OF CATHERINE C. CLARK PLLC 2200 6th Avenue, Suite 1250, Seattle, WA 98121 Phone: (206) 838-2528 Facsimile: (206) 374-3003 1 I. PARTIES 1 1.1 WASHLITE is a domestic non-profit corporation registered in the state of 2 Washington. The League’s Board is composed of David Koenig, Sherry Bockwinkel, Lori 3 Shavlik, and Arthur West, and the organization has members throughout the State of 4 Washington, including King County, Washington. WASHLITE members have written 5 6 contracts for the provision of cable television services in their residences and/or businesses. 7 1.2 JOHN DOE and JANE DOE 1-1,000 are representative of consumers in 8 Washington State who have written contracts for the provision of cable television services in 9 their residences and/or businesses and those consumers and/or persons located in Washington 10 State who do not. 11 1.3 Defendant Fox Corporation is a Delaware corporation, doing business in King 12 County, Washington, through a variety of its subsidiary companies identified herein and 13 14 otherwise. 15 1.4 On information and belief, there are four divisions of the Fox Corporation: Fox 16 Entertainment, Fox News Media and the Fox News Group. 17 1.5 On information and believe, the Fox News Media division includes, either 18 directly or through subsidiary companies, the Fox News Network, LLC, a Delaware 19 corporation which does business as the “Fox News Channel. ” The Fox News Network’s 20 principal place of business in Washington State is located at 2200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 815, 21 22 Seattle, Washington 98121 located in King County. 23 24 25 First Amended Complaint - 2 LAW OFFICE OF CATHERINE C. CLARK PLLC 2200 6th Avenue, Suite 1250, Seattle, WA 98121 Phone: (206) 838-2528 Facsimile: (206) 374-3003 1 1.6 Additionally, on information and belief, the Fox News Media division also 1 includes the Fox Business Network which does business as “Fox Business. ” The state of 2 incorporation of the Fox Business Network is unknown. 3 1.7 Defendants John Moe and Jane Moe, 1-100 are other companies owned by Fox 4 which do business in Washington State related to Fox’s provision of cable television 5 6 programming in the state. 7 1.8 The Fox Corporation, the various divisions thereof, the Fox News Network and 8 the Fox Business Network are sometimes collectively referred to herein as “Fox. ” 9 II. JURISDICTION 10 2. 1 This court has jurisdiction over this matter. 11 III. VENUE 12 3. 1 Venue is proper in this court. 13 14 IV. FACTS 15 4.1 Fox is a part of an international media empire owned and controlled by the 16 Murdoch Family (Family). In addition to Fox, the Family’s holdings include media outlets in 17 the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Fox operates within the United States of 18 America and Canada. 19 4.2 Fox provides broadcast television services and cable television services in the 20 United States including Washington State. In Washington State, its broadcast television stations 21 include KCPQ located in Seattle, Washington, KFFX located in Pendleton, Oregon and 22 23 broadcasting into Washington State, and KAYU located in Spokane, Washington. 24 25 First Amended Complaint - 3 LAW OFFICE OF CATHERINE C. CLARK PLLC 2200 6th Avenue, Suite 1250, Seattle, WA 98121 Phone: (206) 838-2528 Facsimile: (206) 374-3003 1 4.3 Fox’s cable television services are a separate and distinct operation from its 1 broadcast television stations located in Washington State. Through these cable television 2 services, Fox provides programming in general entertainment, news, business news, weather 3 and sports. 4 4.4 Consumers in Washington State purchase access to cable television 5 6 programming such as those provided by Fox through a subscription service offered by 7 Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum Cable Services, DISH TV and other similar services. 8 4.5 In general, and on information and belief, each of the subscription services such 9 as Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum Cable Services, DISH TV and the like all disclaim 10 involvement regarding the creation of any content provided by FOX or other programming 11 provided by third parties who access the telecommunications infrastructure provided by 12 13 Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum Cable Services, DISH TV and the like. 14 4.6 By way of an example, the Comcast Agreement for Residential Services 15 agreement specifically states: 16 You should address questions or concerns relating to such services, equipment, 17 infrastructure, and content to the providers of such services, equipment, infrastructure, and content. We do not endorse or warrant any third-party 18 products, services, or content that are distributed or advertised over the Services(s). 19 4.7 On information and belief, Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum Cable Services, 20 DISH TV and the like have similar provisions in their contracts with consumers, be they 21 22 residential service or commercial services to businesses. 23 4.8 On information and belief, the Fox Corporation, either directly or through its 24 various subsidiary companies, has contracts with Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum Cable 25 First Amended Complaint - 4 LAW OFFICE OF CATHERINE C. CLARK PLLC 2200 6th Avenue, Suite 1250, Seattle, WA 98121 Phone: (206) 838-2528 Facsimile: (206) 374-3003 1 Services, DISH TV and the like. Through these contracts, Fox accesses the cable television 1 network built by these companies and televises its cable television programming through that 2 infrastructure. Under these agreements, Fox receives payment from Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, 3 Spectrum Cable Services, DISH TV and the like which is payment is a portion of the fees paid 4 by Washington Consumers for these services. 5 6 4.9 By way of an example Comcast/Xfinity, which is the exclusive provider of cable 7 television services for the City of Seattle pursuant to a Cable Television Franchise Agreement 8 (under the name Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC) provides a variety of 9 products which bundle various cable television channels into one package. As of the date of 10 this First Amended Complaint, Comcast/Xfinity provides to consumers in the City of Seattle a 11 variety packages which include a variety of channels in excess of 220 options. On information 12 13 and belief, other cable television service providers have similar purchase options. 14 4.10 When purchasing one of these programming packages from entities such as 15 Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum Cable Services, DISH TV and the like, apart from a limited 16 basic cable option, a Washington Consumer purchases the full group of channels. They do not 17 have the option to “opt out” of receiving any of the channels provided in the package. These 18 services are thus offered as a bundle, and not as a cafeteria plan. 19 4.11 Two of the channels provided by Fox and included in the programming 20 21 packages offered in Washington State is the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Channel. 22 Because of the agreements Fox has with entities such as Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum 23 Cable Services, DISH TV and the like, the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Channel 24 25 First Amended Complaint - 5 LAW OFFICE OF CATHERINE C. CLARK PLLC 2200 6th Avenue, Suite 1250, Seattle, WA 98121 Phone: (206) 838-2528 Facsimile: (206) 374-3003 1 are ubiquit ous in Washington State and the United States, both in subscriber’s residences and in 1 businesses . 2 4.12 As of September 2018, approximately 87,118,000 United States households (90. 3 8% of television subscribers) had the Fox News Channel through a cable subscription. 4 4.13 In 2019, the Fox News Channel was identified the top-rated cable network 5 6 averaging 2. 5 million viewers daily in the United States. 7 4.14 The Fox News Channel’s present programming lineup includes the following 8 programs running each day of the week on a twenty-four hour rotation: 9 4.4.1 Fox & Friends First with hosts Heather Childers, Rob Schmitt and 10 Jillan Mele. The program is described as “Fox & Friends First airs on Fox News Channel every 11 weekday from 4 am to 6 am ET. Watch your favorite hosts report on the day’s headlines and 12 13 latest news in health, legal issues, politics and lifestyle. ” 14 4.4.2 Fox & Friends with hosts Ainsley Earnhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Steve 15 Doocy which is described as “Mornings are always a good time with friends! Join hosts 16 Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy.