In August 2023 I wrote, Understanding TCR and Kaleyra Part 2. I mentioned the case Pulzone v. Kaleyra, Inc. It’s just settled. What’s interesting is the settlement of a 3 year old case was reached within 24 hours of Bill Peters meeting with the plaintiff’s lawyers as a witness against Kaleyra. Draw what inference you want from that, but clearly Kaleyra wanted this case closed fast once Bill was involved.

Today, I anonymously received a copy of one page from the “TRANSCRIPT OF FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE BEFORE THE HONORABLE DAVID J. NOVAK UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.” See image below, it’s shocking what the judge said. Note the document is not yet available on Pacer (Public Access to Court Electronic Record), any changes would be to protect the identity of third parties, not the lawyers of the case, nor what the Judge said to those lawyers.

Pro hac vice is a practice in common law jurisdictions whereby a lawyer who has not been admitted to practice in a certain jurisdiction is allowed to participate in a particular case in that jurisdiction. That is Mark  Romeo (Littler lawyer) could practice in Virginia for the Pulzone vz. Kaleyra case. In checking on whether such commentary from a judge is normal. According to 3 highly experienced lawyers, they have never seen a judge make such statements throughout their combined 100 years of practicing law.

Note in the article, “Long, drawn-out, lawless litigation.” said Judge Colleen McMahon, the judge expressed her disapproval of what was happening in Bill Peter’s arbitration:

“I don’t approve of arbitration. I will tell you that right off the bat. I don’t approve of arbitration at all. And I particularly don’t approve of commercial arbitrations like this because they’re not really arbitrations, they’re litigations. Arbitration is something that’s supposed to happen snap, snap, snap, snap, quickly, to resolve disputes. That’s not what happens in commercial arbitration these days. It’s just long, drawn-out, lawless litigation.”

Judge Colleen McMahon

To Tata Communications, Kaleyra, and The Campaign Registry; your reputations are being besmirched by your lawyers. Judge Colleen McMahon gave Littler her frank opinion on the arbitration. Judge David Novak got to the point of considering reporting your lawyers. When Judges do that, something is seriously wrong.

Bill’s arbitration continues into 2025. The lawfare continues against innocent people doing their jobs. As an industry we should be holding both sides to account, lawfare is not acceptable. In Julia Pulzone’s case, fired in 2019, settled in 2024. In Bill’s case, fired in 2022, with arbitration possibly ending in 2025, and then the court case running into likely 2027.

Tomorrow we’ll have a Truth in Telecoms covering this, and the sale of TCR.