NETWORK MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT 38.1 The Parties will work cooperatively to implement this Agreement. The Parties will exchange appropriate information (for example, maintenance contact numbers, network information, information required to comply with law enforcement and other security agencies of the government, escalation processes, etc.) to achieve this desired result.
38.2 Each Party will administer its network to ensure acceptable service levels to all users of its network services. Service levels are generally considered acceptable only when End Users are able to establish connections with little or no delay encountered in the network. Each Party will provide a twenty four (24)-hour contact number for Network Traffic Management issues to the other’s surveillance management center.
38.3 Each Party maintains the right to implement protective network traffic management controls, such as “cancel to”, “call gapping” or seven (7)-digit and ten (10)-digit code gaps, to selectively cancel the completion of traffic over its network, including traffic destined for the other Party’s network, when required to protect the public-switched network from congestion as a result of occurrences such as facility failures, switch congestion or failure or focused overload. Each Party shall immediately notify the other Party of any protective control action planned or executed.
38.4 Where the capability exists, originating or terminating traffic reroutes may be implemented by either Party to temporarily relieve network congestion due to facility failures or abnormal calling patterns. Reroutes shall not be used to circumvent normal trunk servicing. Expansive controls shall be used only when mutually agreed to by the Parties.
38.5 The Parties shall cooperate and share pre-planning information regarding cross-network call-ins expected to generate large or focused temporary increases in call volumes to prevent or mitigate the impact of these events on the public-switched network, including any disruption or loss of service to the other Party’s End Users. Facsimile (FAX) numbers must be exchanged by the Parties to facilitate event notifications for planned mass calling events.
38.6 Neither Party shall use any Interconnection Service provided under this Agreement or any other service related thereto or used in combination therewith in any manner that interferes with or impairs service over any facilities of AT&T-21STATE, its affiliated companies or other connecting telecommunications carriers, prevents any carrier from using its Telecommunications Service, impairs the quality or the privacy of Telecommunications Service to other carriers or to either Party’s End Users, causes hazards to either Party’s personnel or the public, damage to either Party’s or any connecting carrier’s facilities or equipment, including any malfunction of ordering or billing systems or equipment. Upon such occurrence either Party may discontinue or refuse service, but only for so long as the other Party is violating this provision. Upon any such violation, either Party shall provide the other Party notice of the violation at the earliest practicable time.
38.7 AT&T TENNESSEE hereby commits to provide Disaster Recovery to CLEC according to the plan below.
38.7.1 AT&T TENNESSEE Disaster Recovery Plan
38.7.2 In the unlikely event of a disaster occurring that affects AT&T TENNESSEE’s long-term ability to deliver traffic to a CLEC, general procedures have been developed by AT&T TENNESSEE to hasten the recovery process in accordance with the Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) Program established by the FCC to identify and prioritize telecommunication services that support national security or emergency preparedness (NS/EP) missions. A description of the TSP Program as it may be amended from time to time is available on AT&T TENNESSEE’s Wholesale – Southeast Region Web site. Since each location is different and could be affected by an assortment of potential problems, a detailed recovery plan is impractical. However, in the process of reviewing recovery activities for specific locations, some basic procedures emerge that appear to be common in most cases.
38.7.3 These general procedures should apply to any disaster that affects the delivery of traffic for an extended time period. Each CLEC will be given the same consideration during an outage, and service will be restored as quickly as possible. AT&T TENNESSEE reserves the right to make changes to these procedures as improvements become available or as business conditions dictate.
38.7.4 This plan will cover the basic recovery procedures that would apply to every CLEC.
Operation of the Company’s Business (a) Except (i) as set forth in Section 4.2(a) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, (ii) as expressly permitted by or required in accordance this Agreement, (iii) as required by applicable Law, (iv) in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, to the extent reasonably necessary, (A) to protect the health and safety of the Company’s or any of its Subsidiaries’ employees, (B) to respond to third party supply or service disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or (C) as required by any applicable Law, directive or guideline from any Governmental Body arising out of, or otherwise related to, the COVID-19 pandemic (including any response to COVID-19), or (v) as may be consented to in writing by Parent (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned), during the Pre-Closing Period: each of the Company and its Subsidiaries shall conduct its business and operations in the Ordinary Course of Business and in compliance in all material respects with all applicable Laws and the requirements of all Contracts that constitute Company Material Contracts.
(b) Except (i) as expressly permitted by this Agreement, (ii) as set forth in Section 4.2(b) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, (iii) as required by applicable Law or (iv) with the prior written consent of Parent (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned), at all times during the Pre-Closing Period, the Company shall not, nor shall it cause or permit any of its Subsidiaries to, do any of the following:
(i) declare, accrue, set aside or pay any dividend or make any other distribution in respect of any shares of its capital stock or repurchase, redeem or otherwise reacquire, directly or indirectly, any shares of its capital stock or other securities (except in connection with the payment of the exercise price and/or withholding Taxes incurred upon the exercise, settlement or vesting of any award granted under the Company Plan in accordance with the terms of such award in effect on the date of this Agreement);
(ii) sell, issue, grant, pledge or otherwise dispose of or encumber or authorize any of the foregoing with respect to: (A) any capital stock or other security of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries (except for shares of outstanding Company Common Stock issued upon the valid exercise of Company Options); (B) any option, warrant or right to acquire any capital stock or any other security, other than option grants or restricted stock unit awards granted to employees and service providers in the Ordinary Course of Business which are included in the calculation of the Company Outstanding Shares; or (C) any instrument convertible into or exchangeable for any capital stock or other security of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries;
(iii) except as required to give effect to anything in contemplation of the Closing, amend any of its or its Subsidiaries’ Organizational Documents, or effect or be a party to any merger, consolidation, share exchange, business combination, recapitalization, reclassification of shares, stock split, reverse stock split or similar transaction except, for the avoidance of doubt, the Contemplated Transactions;
(iv) form any Subsidiary or acquire any equity interest or other interest in any other Entity or enter into a joint venture with any other Entity;
(A) lend money to any Person (except for the advancement of expenses to employees, directors and consultants in the Ordinary Course of Business), (B) incur or guarantee any indebtedness for borrowed money, (C) guarantee any debt securities of others, or (D) other than the incurrence or payment of any Transaction Expenses, make any capital expenditure in excess of the budgeted capital expenditure amounts set forth in the Company operating budget delivered to Parent concurrently with the execution of this Agreement (the “Company Budget”);
(vi) other than as required by applicable Law or the terms of any Company Benefit Plan as in effect on the date of this Agreement: (A) adopt, terminate, establish or enter into any Company Benefit Plan; (B) cause or permit any Company Benefit Plan to be amended in any material respect; (C) pay any bonus or make any profit-sharing or similar payment to, or increase the amount of the wages, salary, commissions, benefits or other compensation or remuneration payable to, any of its directors, officers or employees, other than increases in base salary and annual cash bonus opportunities and payments made in the Ordinary Course of Business consistent with past practice and which do not exceed, in the aggregate, the amounts specifically budgeted therefore in the Company Budget; (D) increase the severance or change of control benefits offered to any current or new employees, directors or consultants; (E) hire any (x) officer or (y) employee whose annual base salary is or is expected to be more than $250,000 per year or (F) terminate or give notice of termination to any officer other than for cause;
(vii) recognize any labor union or labor organization, except as otherwise required by applicable Law and after prior written consent of Parent (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned);
(viii) enter into any material transaction other than in the Ordinary Course of Business;
(ix) acquire any material asset or sell, lease or otherwise irrevocably dispose of any of its assets or properties, or grant any Encumbrance with respect to such assets or properties, except in the Ordinary Course of Business;
(x) sell, assign, transfer, license, sublicense or otherwise dispose of any Company IP (other than pursuant to non-exclusive licenses in the Ordinary Course of Business);
(xi) make, change or revoke any material Tax election, fail to pay any income or other material Tax as such Tax becomes due and payable, file any amendment making any material change to any Tax Return, settle or compromise any income or other material Tax liability or submit any voluntary disclosure application, enter into any Tax allocation, sharing, indemnification or other similar agreement or arrangement (other than customary commercial contracts entered into in the Ordinary Course of Business the principal subject matter of which is not Taxes), request or consent to any extension or waiver of any limitation period with respect to any claim or assessment for any income or other material Taxes (other than pursuant to an extension of time to file any Tax Return granted in the Ordinary Course of Business of not more than seven (7) months), or adopt or change any material accounting method in respect of Taxes;
(xii) enter into, materially amend or terminate any Company Material Contract;
(xiii) other than as required by Law or GAAP, take any action to change accounting policies or procedures;
(xiv) initiate or settle any Legal Proceeding
(xv) enter into or amend a Contract that would reasonably be expected to prevent or materially impede, interfere with, hinder or delay the consummation of the Contemplated Transactions; or
(xvi) agree, resolve or commit to do any of the foregoing.
(c) Nothing contained in this Agreement shall give Parent, directly or indirectly, the right to control or direct the operations of the Company prior to the Effective Time. Prior to the Effective Time, the Company shall exercise, consistent with the terms and conditions of this Agreement, complete unilateral control and supervision over its business operations. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in this Agreement, no consent of Parent shall be required with respect to any matter set forth in this Section 4.2 or elsewhere in this Agreement to the extent that the requirement of such consent could violate any applicable Laws.
SCOPE OF SERVICES/CASE HANDLING A. Upon execution by GPM, attorneys are retained to provide legal services for the purpose of seeking damages and other relief in the Litigation. Client provides authorization to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff in the class action, while the Attorneys will seek to be appointed Class Counsel. If this occurs, the Litigation will be prosecuted as a class action.
B. If you obtain access to non-public information during the pendency of the Litigation, you must not engage in transactions in securities.
C. Attorneys are authorized to prosecute the Litigation. The appointed Lead Plaintiffs will monitor, review and participate with counsel in the prosecution of the Litigation. The Attorneys shall consult with the appointed Lead Plaintiffs concerning all major substantive matters related to the Litigation, including, but not limited to, the complaint, dispositive motions and settlement. Because of potential differences of opinion between Clients concerning, among other things, strategy, goals and objectives of the Litigation, the Attorneys shall consult with the appointed Lead Plaintiffs as to the courses of action to pursue. The Client agrees to abide by the decisions of the appointed Lead Plaintiffs, which shall be final and binding on all Clients.
D. GPM is given the authority to opt the Client out of any class action proceeding relating to the claims authorized herein and/or pursue the Client claim individually in a group action, if the Client is not appointed Lead Plaintiff and GPM is not appointed Class Counsel.
E. The Attorneys shall provide sufficient resources, including attorney time and capital for payment of costs and expenses, to vigorously prosecute the Litigation.
F. Any recovery from defendants that the Attorneys are responsible for will be divided among class members based on the recognized loss by each class member as calculated by a damage allocation plan which will be prepared by a financial expert or consultant, provided to the appointed Lead Plaintiffs, be subject to the Court's approval and will account for such factors as size of securities ownership, date of purchase, date of sale and continued holdings, if any. Under the rules governing class action litigation, while the Lead Plaintiffs recover according to the same formula as other class members, the Court may approve, upon application therefore, reimbursement of the Lead Plaintiffs’ reasonable costs and expenses directly related to the representation of the class. Examples are lost wages and travel expenses associated with testifying in the action.