Verizon Sues Covad Alleging False 'Trouble Reports'

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Jun 12, 2001 12:58 PM

Verizon Sues Covad Alleging False 'Trouble Reports'

Telecommunications services provider Verizon Communications on Tuesday said it had filed suit against high-speed Internet access provider Covad Communications Group alleging that Covad blamed its own service failures on Verizon.

By Reuters, CRN

The lawsuit alleges that former employees of Covad, which provides broadband Internet access through digital subscriber lines, report that they were "pressured" and "badgered" into issuing false reports about Verizon's services and "reprimanded" if they failed to comply.

The Wall Street Journal quoted a Covad representative as denying that the company invented complaints about Verizon's performance to cover up its own ineptitude.

Verizon said it would hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. in Washington to explain its lawsuit, which was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose.

This is not the first instance of legal wrangling between the two companies. Covad filed an antitrust suit against Verizon in 1999, while Verizon is currently appealing the loss of a patent suit against Covad.

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