MAINE CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION

MCLU to Court: Keep Maine Lawsuit in Maine
MCLU Opposes Transfer of Maine Lawsuit To California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 27, 2006

Portland- Today, the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation (MCLU) formally opposed the transfer of a high profile Maine telecom case to California.  The case is United States v. Adams et al in which the federal government has sued Maine Public Utilities Commissioners to prevent the PUC from conducting an investigation into whether Verizon is cooperating in Maine with the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program. Verizon issued two press releases last May denying it provided NSA any call records. The PUC has only asked that Verizon affirm under oath that its press releases are true, and there are no other significant issues in the case.  AT&T, which is the target of a privacy lawsuit in California, sought to have the Maine case transferred to California.

“This doesn’t make any sense at all,” said John Paterson, an MCLU cooperating attorney with Bernstein Shur, “The federal government’s attempt to stop a PUC investigation is far different from the consumer lawsuit against AT&T and other phone companies out in California.”

The transfer order came from the Joint Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, a committee of judges that oversees complex cases in multiple courtrooms.  If the transfer order stands, the Maine case will be transferred to San Francisco, along with twenty-five other cases from around the country.  The Maine lawsuit, however, is substantially different from most of the others.  The MCLU represents James D. Cowie and 17 other Maine phone customers who want the Maine PUC to investigate Verizon.   

“We brought our complaint case to the PUC so that Maine could protect the privacy rights of Mainers,” said James Cowie, lead complainant in the original request for an investigation to the PUC and an MCLU client.  “The PUC hasn’t even opened an investigation yet.  We just want to know whether or not Verizon was telling the truth to the press and the public last spring.”

The MCLU filings today point out that the costs and delay associated with moving the Maine case to California are significant.  Travel from Maine to California is expensive, and the case is likely to be time consuming.  With twenty-five cases raising different legal and factual issues, the MCLU’s resources would be quickly depleted.

“The only question in the Maine case is whether you can believe everything you read in the papers.  This transfer order seems to be motivated by a desire to drag out this proceeding as long as possible,” said Shenna Bellows, MCLU Executive Director. Transfer imposes a high cost on Mainers who just want to know if their privacy rights were violated,” 

A ruling on the transfer order is expected within the next few months.

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