Unconcerned that the combined company would control 70 percent of that market, Huvelle explained that the computer-disaster business was constantly changing and that competitors were able to enter the market.
That case and a long list of her other decisions provide a window into the thinking of Huvelle, who is now set to oversee the most significant antitrust action in recent memory.
Huvelle, 63, is no stranger to highly politicized cases, presiding over the 2008 corruption case of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s $75 million mortgage-meltdown settlement with Citigroup in 2010. As an attorney in 1982, she defended Don King in a tax fraud case.
In an interview Wednesday, Huvelle declined to comment on the specifics of AT&T’s $39 billion proposed merger with T-Mobile. But she made it clear she had little interest in the politics surrounding the case.
Half of the cases before her have “a lot of noise around them,” she said. “But I think my job is to look at the law and the facts.”
Already, the battle over the wireless mega-merger has generated debate beyond what usually arises in antitrust matters. AT&T has decried the Justice Department’s decision to challenge the deal in court as bad for the economy because the merger would create jobs for tens of thousands of Americans. Department officials argued that their efforts to block the merger will save jobs.
For her part, Huvelle said she didn’t know “how the jobs issue will fit” in her analysis.
Appointed by President Bill Clinton to the District Court in 1999 , Huvelle has a long record on antitrust cases. In 2001, she turned away the Justice Department’s efforts to prevent a $700 million deal between computer-disaster-recovery companies Comdisco and SunGard.
“The market was even more concentrated for Comdisco and SunGard [than AT&T and T-Mobile], but she was dismissive of that because she understood that we needed to also look at what other alternatives customers have,” said David Balto, an attorney who represented SunGard.
“So she may very well look at AT&T and T-Mobile and ask how that industry is changing and what kinds of alternatives consumers can find,” Balto said.
AT&T and T-Mobile, as a combined company, would serve 132 million customers, about 44 percent of the market.
The Justice Department has argued that the marriage would overly concentrate the industry and harm consumers by leaving them with higher bills and fewer choices. If the deal goes through, about 80 percent of wireless users would be customers of AT&T and its main rival, Verizon Wireless.
Loading...
Comments