D.C. Circuit Won’t Stay Verizon Retention Marketing Order
A federal appeals court won’t stay an FCC order blocking Verizon from marketing to departing customers. Ruling Wednesday, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit said only that Verizon didn’t satisfy “the stringent standards required for a stay pending court review.” But the court denied an FCC motion to strike the case, granting Verizon expedited consideration of its petition for review. Judges Judith Rogers and Merrick Garland supported denying the stay, with Judge Douglas Ginsburg dissenting.
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The stay denial is a “modest disappointment” for Verizon, Stifel Nicolaus analyst David Kaut said in an interview. The company likely knew from the start the difficulty of getting a stay, he said. Expedited consideration also lessens the blow, he said. The order’s brevity makes it hard to predict the final outcome, he said, but Ginsburg’s dissent should buck up Verizon going into the review. Even so, it’s uncertain whether Ginsburg or the other judges will also oversee the case’s next stage, he said.
Verizon is “pleased the court granted an expedited review because the FCC order denies consumers the full benefits of competition and puts their money into the pockets of cable incumbents each day it is in effect,” a company spokesman said. Under the expedited schedule, Verizon’s brief is due Aug. 1, the FCC response Sept. 8 and replies Sept. 22. The court didn’t set an oral argument date.
CompTel, which filed an amicus brief, lauded the stay denial. The FCC correctly found that Verizon retention marketing is anticompetitive, a spokeswoman for the competitive local exchange carrier association said Thursday. “CompTel is hopeful that, in its expedited review of the merits, the court will reach the same conclusion.” A Comcast spokeswoman said it’s pleased as well.
The D.C. Circuit denied motions for leave filed by CompTel, Consumers Union, NCTA and the VON Coalition. The groups wanted to reply to Verizon’s motion for stay as friends of the court. “Neither the Federal nor the D.C. Circuit Rules provide for amici to file or respond to pleadings,” the appeals court said. The order only blocks replies on the motion for stay, the CompTel spokeswoman said: “We don’t think what the court said precludes us from filing an amicus brief on the petition for review.” NCTA declined to comment. Consumers Union and the VON Coalition didn’t respond to requests for comment.