STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Government Performance and Financial Management
AGENDA DATE: February 24, 2021
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S): N/A
DEPARTMENT: City Attorney's Office
EXECUTIVE: Christopher J. Caso
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SUBJECT
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Authorize a professional services contract with McKool Smith, P.C., Ashcroft Sutton Reyes LLC, and Korein Tillery LLC for legal services to represent the City of Dallas in the lawsuit to be filed and styled City of Dallas et al. v. Netlix, Inc., et al., contingent upon approval of the contract by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas pursuant to Section 2254 of the Texas Government Code - Financing: No cost consideration (see Fiscal Information)
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BACKGROUND
The City intends to pursue claims for monetary damages, declaratory relief, and other legal remedies ("Damages") against Netflix, Inc., Hulu LLC, Disney DTC LLC, and other video service providers (VSPs) as determined for non-payment of franchise fees as set forth under the Texas Video Services Providers Act, Tex. Util. Code Sec. 66 (the "Litigation"). The City's desired outcome in pursuing the Litigation is to recover from the VSPs Damages owed to the City for failure to pay franchise fees and obtain an order requiring the VPSs to pay the franchise fees going forward, in addition to other relief allowed under the law.
The VSPs deliver video programming to their customers via broadband internet. The internet connections rely on wireline facilities located at least partially in the public right of way. The VSPs do not pay franchise fees to the City as required in section 66.005 of the Texas Utilities Code.
The City wishes to engage the following three law firms ("Firms") to provide legal services to represent the City in the Litigation: McKool Smith, P.C., Ashcroft Sutton Reyes LLC, and Korein Tillery LLC. The Firms are currently representing other local governments in similar lawsuits in other jurisdictions.
The relat...
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