Legal News for Fri 8/30 - Disney and DirecTV Negotiate, Coca Cola Sustainability Lawsuit, Musk Cl...

hello and welcome to the minimum competence episode for Friday August 30th 2024 I'm your host for today Andrew Ley a tax and Technology attorney from New Jersey on today's episode we have Disney and Direct TV's urgent negotiations Coca-Cola's sustainability lawsuit Elon musk's clash with Brazil's Supreme Court Amazon's first unionized warehouse and AT&T's 911 outage fine let's remember it must be September July sun has disappeared and read today's legal news on on this day in legal history August 30th 2001 the international criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICT announced that Former Yugoslav president Slobodan mosovich would face charges of genocide marking a pivotal moment in international law the decision added to the existing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to his role in the brutal conflicts that ravaged the Balkans in the 1990s mosovich who sought to prevent the breakup of the Yugoslav Federation through violent ethnic campaigns was accused of orchestrating mass atrocities particularly against Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian War the Gen side charges centered on his alleged responsibility for the srin massacre where over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and women were systematically executed by Bosnian Serb forces the ict's indictment of mosovich was historic as it is the first time a sitting head of state was charged with genocide by an international tribunal the trial which began in 2002 was a complex and lengthy process reflecting the gravity of the accusations and the challenges of Prosecuting such highlevel war crimes although mosovich died in 2006 before a verdict could be reached the charg against him underscored the international community's commitment to holding leaders accountable for genocide and other severe human rights violations Walt Disney and Direct TV are urgently negotiating to renew their distribution agreement before it expires on Sunday failure to reach a deal could result in Direct TV's 11 million subscribers losing access to Disney Channels like ABC and ESPN just before the NFL season begins and during the US Open tennis tournament Direct TV is pushing for the option to offer smaller lower price packages that exclude ESPN catering to Consumers preferences in the streaming era Disney however wants to preserve the value of its Sports content proposing a sports Centric package including ESPN and ABC the negotiations are influenced by ongoing changes in the pay TV industry where subscriber numbers have declined sharply due to the rise of streaming services the companies are also dealing with the impact of sports streaming rights which have been Central to maintaining pay TV subscribers a new sports streaming service called venue Sports backed by Disney Fox and Warner Brothers Discovery has been delayed by a legal dispute with fubo TV over antitrust claims related to content building practices the dispute underscores the challenges facing traditional payv providers as they navigate the growing demand for streaming options the outcome of these negotiations will have significant implications for the future of sports broadcasting and the pay TV industry the DC court of appeals has revived a lawsuit against Coca-Cola brought by Earth Island Institute alleging the company made misleading claims about its sustainability efforts the lawsuit challenges statements made by Coca-Cola such as a tweet asserting that quote business and sustainability are not separate stories for the company ially the Superior Court ruled in 2022 that these statements were merely aspirational and did not violate consumer protection laws however the appeals court disagreed stating that Earth island plausibly argued that Coca-Cola statements could mislead consumers into believing the company is environmentally responsible when it might not be this case is part of a broader trend of greenwashing lawsuits where companies are accused of overstating their environmental commitments the Federal Trade Commission is also expected to provide more guidelines on environmental marketing claims through its updated green guides X formerly Twitter is bracing for a potential shutdown in Brazil following escalating tensions between Elon Musk and the Supreme Court Judge Alexander de mores the conflict intensified when the court froze the bank accounts of musk's Starling satellite firm after X failed to appoint a legal representative in Brazil by a court imposed deadline the dispute stems from Mor's order to block certain accounts on X accused of spreading misinformation which musk condemned as censorship musk responded by criticizing mores publicly and offering free internet access to Brazilians via starlink the legal battle could result in X losing access to one of its ma markets as the company has already threatened to shut down operations in Brazil due to what it describes as censorship the situation reflects broader concerns over freedom of speech versus compliance with local laws in digital platforms Amazon lost its bid to overturn unionization votes at its Staten Island jfk8 Warehouse solidifying it as the company's first unionized facility in the US the National Labor Relations border nlrb dismissed Amazon's objections to the 2022 election where workers voted 2654 to 2,131 1 in favor of joining the Amazon labor union or ALU this ruling certifies the election results allowing the ALU to represent the facilities roughly 8,000 workers however Amazon plans to appeal the decision arguing that both the ALU and the nlrb interfered with the election despite the ruling Amazon May refuse to bargain with the Union potentially leading to further legal battles the nlrb has already accused Amazon of stalling contract negotiations and retaliating against Union supporters the decision faced dissent from the nlrb's sole Republican member who argued that the Union's actions including those by its founder Christian Smalls illegally coerced workers into voting for The Union AT&T has been fined $950,000 by the FCC for a 911 service outage in August of 2023 which affected parts of Illinois Kansas Texas and Wisconsin this is the latest in a series of similar outages including two earlier incidents in 2024 that disrupted 911 services across multiple States the most recent outage was caused by an independent contractor who unintentionally disabled part of the network during unscheduled testing despite AT&T's vast revenues and close ties with the US government which include significant tax breaks and deregulation the company has struggled to maintain reliable 911 service these issues come amid broader concerns about AT&T's network security as recent hacks have compromised the data of over 73 million customers critics argue that the government's lenient oversight and generous financial support of AT&T have contributed to its ongoing performance problems including these critical service failures and with that and as always I thank you so much for listening to minimum competence your Daily News podcast for lawyers if you're looking for more than minimum confidence links to further reading on all the topics touched on today are in the show notes and reviews go long way towards helping new listeners to find our show if you have a moment leave a rating or review on your podcast player we sure appreciate it and if you know someone that might be interested in story recover consider sending them the episode but remember nothing here should be construed as legal advice because it is certainly not that minimum competence is available at minimum comp.com and wherever you get your finally crafted podcast if you haven't checked out the website in a while give it a look there are complete transcripts and resources for each episode and his corresponding segments as well as an opportunity to receive new episodes in email newsletter form we'll see you back here on Monday and until then note we are continuing our state at aim to close out the week of shows with a musical piece to feature that will make these Friday episodes seem especially long we hope you'll stick it out and enjoy the featured piece but if music and specifically classical music isn't your bag we get it our mouth sounds unrelated to the week's closing music ends here this week's closing theme is by gorg B this week's closing theme brings us into the contemplative world of gayor bom a prominent figure in the German Baroque era born on September 2nd 1661 B was a distinguished organist and composer whose Works deeply influenced the musical landscape of his time perhaps best known for his contributions to organ music B held the prestigious position of organist at St John's Church in lunberg where he became a key figure in the development of the northern German organ School his music is marked by its expressive depth and Innovative use of the Corral tonight we turn our attention to his beautiful setting of The Lutheran Corral Vader unar IM him a piece that perfectly captures the devot Spirit of the Baroque Period this work is a coral prelude for organ where B takes the familiar Melody of the Lord's Prayer and weaves it into an intricate and reflective tapestry of sound through his masterful use of CounterPoint and ornamentation B brings out the theological and emotional depth of the text creating a piece that is both meditative and Majestic as we listen we can appreciate B's ability to transform a simple hym tune into a profound musical meditation making it a fitting choice for our closing theme this week enjoy the rich harmonies and spiritual Resonance of gor bm's Vader sir IM himich enjoy [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] oh [Music] I [Music] h [Music] I [Music] [Music]