Citynet LLC and Frontier Resolve Federal Court Dispute for $17.750 Million

On behalf of our client Citynet LLC, we reached a settlement with Frontier and other individual defendants, bringing the broadband whistleblower case to a final conclusion as to Citynet’s claims brought on behalf of the United States. As part of the $17,750,000 settlement with Frontier, the parties released the following statement:  

"Citynet and Frontier Communications jointly announce that they have resolved their dispute regarding the State of West Virginia's Obama-era BTOP grant funds, the subject of Civil Action No. 2: 14-cv-15947, which has been pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia since 2014 and involves only matters occurring prior to that date. This settlement is comprehensive and marks an end to all the litigation and disputes involving these parties and other defendants, including claims for attorneys' fees and costs.

The settlement is described in detail in the Release and Settlement Agreement filed today with the Court, and the parties anticipate that pursuant to the settlement the United States will consent to the dismissal of the case. The total amount of the settlement, including attorney's fees, is $17,750,000. In the settlement agreements as to all of the defendants, the parties acknowledge that the respective settlements are a compromise of disputed claims, and not an admission by any of the Defendants of any wrongdoing or an admission of guilt, negligence, wrongful conduct or liability by any of the Defendants."

The settlement with Frontier followed a $1,775,000.00 settlement earlier this year with two employees of the State of West Virginia who were involved in processing payments to Frontier on the $42,000,000 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (“BTOP”) grant from 2010. That grant program was designed to increase broadband access to rural counties throughout West Virginia. As with Frontier, those defendants deny any liability for the claims asserted against them. Combined, these two settlements and a separate action by the United States against the State involving the same grant, resulted in a total recovery of $24,474,200.00 related to the alleged failures to properly administer the BTOP grant awarded to the Executive Office of West Virginia. 

Neither the parties nor their representatives will make any further comment about the dispute or its resolution.