A Nevada federal district court has issued a stipulation and order to stay litigation pending a settlement between the licensee of two Las Vegas-targeted Spanish-language radio stations and the tower industry giant that threatened to dismantle the stations’ towers after a lease disagreement turned bitter.
The agreement to end the legal battle was signed by U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey on October 15, effectively terminating the case filed by Radio Activo Broadcasting against American Tower Corp.‘s American Towers LLC and Insite Towers LLC.
Officially, a 120-day stay is in place, giving time for the parties to finalize the settlement agreement, which prevents American Tower from dismantling the structures holding the transmitters for KXLI-FM 94.5 “EXA” in Moapa, Nev., and KADD-FM “La Mejor 93.5” in Logandale, Nev.
It follows Dorsey’s August decision to block American Tower from tearing down the stations’ broadcasting structure in rural Bunkerville, Nev., just west of the Arizona State Line.
As RBR+TVBR first reported on August 25, Radio Activo in mid-August sued American Towers LLC in the Nevada federal district court; a civil case filed in Nevada state court was dismissed. With the May Brock Law Group representing Palacios and Radio Activo, the plaintiff asserted that it has been leasing the tower in Bunkerville to operate KXLI and KADD since 2012 and that Radio Activo “has timely paid all rent and common area maintenance charges.”
But, Radio Activo says, American Towers LLC and its related entity InSite Towers failed to provide timely documentation of the “CAM” charges despite several requests for them. While Radio Activo is prepared to pay any “properly supported” CAM charges, American Tower Corp. believes the KADD and KXLI licensee is in breach of their contractual agreement.
That breach of contract, as the defendant sees it, led American Tower to disconnect the electrical power to the tower and to Radio Activo’s broadcasting equipment. The next step, ATC sees it, would have been to decommission the Bunkerville tower and dismantle it.
On August 21, Radio Activo filed an amended complaint with the court, which attorneys for ATC responded to. This led to the Court on September 19 entering an order requiring Palacios’ company “to post a bond of $78,118.73 to secure the preliminary injunction.” This was done on October 3, leading to the settlement.
