Judge: Skydance/Paramount Suit Is 'Frivolous'
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses on Tuesday recommended dismissal of claims brought by LiveVideo.AI against National Amusements and its president, Shari Redstone, related to Skydance Media's purchase of Paramount Global. In a report and recommendation (docket 24-CV-6290) to the U.S. District Court for Southern New York, Moses said LiveVideo.AI's complaint that National Amusements, Paramount's majority holder, ignored its rival bid for Paramount was frivolous. Moore said that following its complaint, LiveVideo.AI has "flooded the docket with meritless, repetitive, and frequently incoherent filings."
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LiveVideo.AI's claims under the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act don't stand up, since it was never an employee of National Amusements, and it was never fired or demoted or otherwise suffered an adverse employment action related to any protected activity under the statute, Moses said. Pointing to the plaintiff's claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, she said "no competent attorney who has read the statute ... could conclude, in good faith, that these factual allegations support a cognizable CFAA claim."
Moses recommended LiveVideo.AI and its counsel, Alfred Constants III, face monetary sanctions of $10,000 each. She also called for Constants to be referred to the court's grievance committee and a limited filing injunction to be issued to prevent LiveVideo.AI "from continuing to advance the frivolous claims it has raised in this action."
LiveVideo.AI has petitions pending before the FCC seeking reconsideration of the agency's approval of Skydance/Paramount (see 2508060007).