Judges Uphold $92 Million Fine Against T-Mobile
The decision sets up a split with the Fifth Circuit.
WASHINGTON, August 15, 2025 – Federal judges in D.C. upheld Friday a $92 million fine against T-Mobile, and in doing so ruled the Federal Communications Commission’s forfeiture process did not violate companies’ right to a jury trial.
It sets up a split with the Fifth Circuit, where judges in April found the process was invalid under recent Supreme Court precedent.
The FCC fined the three major mobile carriers last year nearly $200 million for not vetting third parties before selling them customer location data in 2018. T-Mobile was hit with an $80 million fine, plus a $12.2 million fine intended for Sprint, which T-Mobile acquired in 2020.
All three carriers challenged the fines in court, arguing the penalties violated their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. The Supreme Court held last summer in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy the SEC couldn’t levy civil penalties without a jury trial.
The FCC’s process allows companies to get a jury trial, but only if they choose not to pay and wait for the Department of Justice to pursue a collection action. The companies instead opted to pay the fines, giving them the chance to appeal the penalties in court.
As the other carriers did, T-Mobile argued that didn’t cut it under Jarkesy, while the FCC said the companies had adequate access to a jury trial and simply chose to forego one. The three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed with the agency.
“The Carriers had the right to a jury trial. They chose not to wait for such a trial and therefore waived that right,” Circuit Judge Florence Pan wrote Friday. “The Carriers may not now complain that they were denied a right they voluntarily surrendered.”
The Fifth Circuit, which heard AT&T’s challenge to its $57 million fine, ruled the opposite way. Judges cited precedent in the circuit that they said would limit AT&T’s ability to appeal legal issues if the DOJ ultimately brought a case there.
The split makes it likely one of the parties will ask the Supreme Court to weigh in, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior counselor for the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, said in an email. He said they would probably wait for Verizon’s case to be resolved before doing so.
“But so long as the Circuits remain split, one or both sides are quite likely to seek Supreme Court review,” he said.
T-Mobile said it was reviewing the decision and didn’t have a comment. The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did CTIA, the major wireless industry group.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the time, dissented from the fines when they were handed down, which happened before the Jarkesy decision, and has called for the agency to review its enforcement rules in the wake of Jarkesy.
But under his leadership, the agency is defending its ability to issue fines. The FCC asked the Fifth Circuit last month to rehear the AT&T case with a full panel of judges.
“Civil penalties are among the Commission’s most important regulatory remedies,” the agency wrote. “If the panel’s decision stands, the validity of every Commission enforcement action that seeks to impose a monetary penalty under that provision is likely to be challenged.”
AT&T responded to the request Thursday, saying the court decided correctly the first time and should not rehear the case.
Member discussion