A federal judge in Florida last month refused Time Warner Cable's (NYSE: TWC) request to throw out a suit filed against it by a local installer, which claims the MSO interfered with its sale back in 2012.
Cableview Communications agreed in 2004 to provide installations services for TWC in Greensboro, N.C. In 2010, one of the installer's workers sued a utility company, after one of its poles collapsed while he was working on it, injuring the worker, according to a Law 360 report.
Based on a separate agreement with the utility company, TWC joined in its defense, arguing that Cableview was also liable for legal and settlement costs.
In 2012, Cableview agreed to be acquired by FTS USA LLC. According to Cableview's complaint, TWC settled with the injured worker, then "insisted" that FTS pay it $515,000 to settle Cableview's portion of the liability. Cableview also accuses TWC of revising the settlement claim upwards.
In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Morales Howard also refused a TWC request to sanction Cableview over an affidavit submitted by its president. TWC said the affidavit is "demonstrably false" in its description of fund transfers. The MSO added that bank records later disproved this affidavit.
Judge Morales, however, said she was "troubled by Cableview's shifting answers regarding the allocation and movement of the deferred payment.
"The court cautions Cableview to carefully consider its financial records before deciding whether to continue in this case," the judge said. "The court has made the instant findings based on a limited record, and Time Warner is free to challenge those findings in the event this case proceeds to trial.
Moreover, should this case proceed to trial, Cableview will only be able to recover the portion of the disputed funds which it can establish are properly allocated to it," the judge said.
A TWC rep declined comment for FierceInstaller.
For more:
- read this Law 360 story
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