By Joseph Checkler
A federal judge has dismissed much of the lawsuit LightSquared
and Harbinger Capital Partners filed against companies in the
global-positioning-system industry but said LightSquared can
proceed with claims that the GPS equipment interferes with
LightSquared's network.
Judge Richard M. Berman of U.S. District Court in Manhattan
tossed most of the claims against the GPS companies, Garmin Ltd.
and Trimble Navigation Ltd., as well as ones against Deere &
Co., including one for unjust enrichment and another for breach of
contract. All of Harbinger's claims are gone, while nine of 11
LightSquared ones were thrown out.
In 2013, Philip Falcone's Harbinger, which owns LightSquared,
sued the GPS companies and industry groups in federal court.
Harbinger claimed it never would have made such a large investment
in LightSquared--it said it lost $1.9 billion--had the GPS industry
raised its concerns over LightSquared's network interfering with
GPS earlier. Those concerns wound up driving LightSquared into
bankruptcy in May 2012 after regulators refused to allow it to use
its network. LightSquared later joined in on that suit, making
similar claims.
Last May, the GPS companies sought dismissal of the suits,
calling them "wildly implausible claims."
In a statement Thursday, LightSquared said it was happy the
court would allow it to move forward with its claim that the GPS
companies' receivers are "designed to intrude" with LightSquared's
network.
"LightSquared has always maintained that any interference issues
are caused by the design of GPS receivers and not the design of
LightSquared's proposed network," the company said.
The company will be able to probe the firms' books in discovery.
Lawyers for the GPS companies didn't immediately respond to a
request for comment.
LightSquared filed for Chapter 11 shortly after federal
regulators refused to clear LightSquared's plans to launch its
wireless network. Those regulators heeded warnings from the GPS
industry that the network could interfere with GPS.
LightSquared isn't able to fully use spectrum that it owns
without support from the Federal Communications Commission, and the
FCC so far has refused to grant such approval.
Write to Joseph Checkler at joseph.checkler@wsj.com
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