10th Circuit Denies Blanca Telephone Writ of Mandamus; Company Petitions FCC for Relief
A court denied a Blanca Telephone petition for a writ of mandamus seeking judicial intervention against FCC orders requiring the company to repay $6.75 million in USF support (see 1712110055). "Mandamus is a drastic remedy that should be invoked only…
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in extraordinary circumstances," said a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an order posted on the commission's website Tuesday (In re: Blanca Telephone Co., No. 17-1451). "Before this court grants this drastic remedy, we must be satisfied, at a minimum, that there is no adequate alternative means for the relief Blanca seeks, that its right to mandamus relief is clear and indisputable, and that issuance of the writ is appropriate. ... [W]e determine that Blanca has not met these requirements." The same panel last week rejected a Blanca motion for an emergency stay opposed by the FCC, which argued the company was seeking relief on grounds it hadn't presented to the agency (see 1712290036). Blanca petitioned the FCC for reconsideration of an order and emergency relief in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 96-45.