The Illinois Public Telecommunications Association petitioned the U.S....
The Illinois Public Telecommunications Association petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for a rehearing en banc of the court’s June 13 decision (http://1.usa.gov/1ltd6Bf) (docket 13-1059) in Illinois Public Telecommunications Association v. FCC on Monday. The court…
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upheld an FCC decision not to grant payphone service providers refunds from AT&T and Verizon (CD June 16 p9). The D.C. Circuit said it was not unreasonable or arbitrary for the FCC to permit refunds of charges that exceeded the cost-based rates mandated under Telecom Act Section 276. By permitting individual states to bar refunds, the court split with previous federal circuit courts that agreed the filed rate doctrine did not bar refunds of charges that exceeded the cost-based rate requirement of Section 276, said IPTA attorney Michael Ward. The D.C. Circuit also ignored the time requirements for implementing the Section 276 requirements set in the statute, five FCC orders and previous decisions of the D.C. Circuit, he said. The panel also failed to rule on the Independent Payphone Association of New York argument that the FCC did not require the New York State Public Service Commission to follow its new services test orders delineating the requirements for cost-based rates that the FCC has consistently required in all states, Ward said. The New York association and the Payphone Association of Ohio joined in Monday’s petition.