Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios Networks said a federal judge in Los Angeles denied a Charter Communications request to dismiss a lawsuit, which was recently amended, against the cable company, claiming racial discrimination under the Civil Rights Act and seeking $10 billion in compensation.

U.S. District Judge George H. Wu said Charter had not "to this point" convinced the court to dismiss the complaint on First Amendment grounds and said he would allow the lawsuit to continue, according to a copy of the opinion that ESN provided in a news release. ESN said the judge's opinion was issued as a tentative ruling at the start of a hearing on Monday (Oct. 24) and made final at the end of the hearing. 

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Skip Miller, partner at Miller Barondess LLP, representing the plaintiff, called the judge's decision "a huge victory for my client." Miller continued in a statement: "The judge addressed the complexities of this case and discovery will commence immediately. We have direct and circumstantial evidence that we put forth in our lawsuit. We have evidence of racial bias harbored by top level Charter executives with decision-making authority, and allege, in detail, the discriminatory treatment ESN suffered at the hands of these executives. These well-pleaded allegations, combined with Charter’s internal racial issues, lack of contracting and doing business with 100% African American-owned media, were sufficient to defeat Charter’s Motion to Dismiss and we look forward to trial by jury. Separately, we fully expect the dismissal of ESN’s $20 billion lawsuit against Comcast to be overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals where we are under appeal.” 

The complaint recounts unsuccessful efforts by Allen to gain carriage for ESN programming on Charter cable systems, which now have more than 17 million customers with Charter having acquired Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The complaint also alleges "discriminatory behavior" and "derogatory racist comments about African Americans" were made by Allan Singer, Charter's former senior vice president of programming. ESN also claims Allen tried to speak with Charter CEO Tom Rutledge at the Cable Hall of Fame dinner in Boston on May 16 and that Rutledge "refused, making a dismissive hand gesture and calling Allen a 'Boy,' a term with racial connotations." 

Charter, through a spokesman, said: "This lawsuit is a desperate tactic that this programmer has used before with other distributors. We will not comment further at this time."

In addition to the lawsuit against Comcast that was dismissed in August, Allen's company and the National Association of African American Owned Media sued AT&T in a multi-billion-dollar discrimination lawsuit that AT&T settled and that later resulted in ESN networks gaining carriage on AT&T-owned DirecTV and U-verse TV. 

ESN programming includes the channels Comedy.TV, Justice Central, Recipe.TV, ES.TV, MyDestination.TV, Cars TV and Pets TV which, according to the complaint, ESN offered to Charter as a package for 10 cents per subscriber.

Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios (ES), which filed a $10-billion discrimination lawsuit against Charter Communications for allegedly not launching "100% African-American-owned" programming networks, said in a statement Thursday that news outlets were off base in reporting that the FCC was close to circulating an approval order for Charter's merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

ES and The National Association of African American-Owned Media, which joined in the suit, said they had been told that investigations into the deal were "very much ongoing."

It also said that the FCC had not yet circulated the item, which multiple sources confirmed, and which also means that the investigation would be ongoing regardless of the eventual outcome, which is still widely believed by those inside and outside the commission to be approval.

They also said that the FCC indicated it could impose conditions -- it will certainly do so if it approves the deal as expected -- too onerous and Charter could walk away, which is theoretically the case with any merger.

An FCC spokesperson was not available for comment on the characterizations, but Charter was.

“Mr. Allen’s history of frivolous claims speaks for itself," said Charter in a statement. "Charter is committed to expanding diversity and inclusion throughout the company as reflected in the MOU we signed with leading national civic organizations representing communities of color and recognized by members of the Congressional Black Caucus in their recent letter to the FCC. Our commitments will enhance diversity in corporate governance, including on our board of directors, employment, suppliers, community investment and in the programming we carry. We look forward to obtaining approval for our pending transactions and serving all consumers in the communities we will operate in.”

Allen and his backers have criticized Charter's memorandum of understanding with diversity organizations. In December, Allen settled a lawsuit he'd filed against AT&T on similar grounds as the Charter suit, after AT&T signed a distribution agreement for Allen's networks.