Blackwell
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The mayor of Maple Heights, Ohio, decided to sue Hulu and Netflix for cable-TV franchise fees after a bowling-alley owner connected her with outside lawyers and she held a 30-minute discussion with the city’s legal director.
Mayor Annette Blackwell acknowledged in a deposition she didn’t attempt to negotiate down the 33% contingency fee the city agreed to pay its private lawyers and couldn’t explain why she was suing Hulu and Netflix for streaming video to local residents but not the public library, a local college or the
New York Times.
“I don’t have enough information to have my own view about this,” Blackwell said under questioning from lawyers for Netflix and Hulu. She said she relied entirely on Frank Consolo, who represents the city in legal matters, for his advice on the case.