Verizon North Inc. v. Strand
| Decision Date | 28 April 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-2322.,02-2322. |
| Citation | 367 F.3d 577 |
| Parties | VERIZON NORTH INC. et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. John G. STRAND et al., Defendants-Appellants, Coast to Coast Telecommunications, Inc., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Gerald Masoudi (argued and briefed), Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, DC, James P. Feeney, Feeney Kellett, Wienner & Bush, Bloomfield Hills, MI, A. Randall Vogelzang, Irving, TX, Seth D. Gould (briefed), Weinner & Gould, Troy, MI, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
David A. Voges, Asst. Atty., Michael A. Nickerson (argued and briefed), Office of the Attorney General Public Service Division, Lansing, MI, for Defendant-Appellant.
Robert J. Franzinger, Dykema Gossett, Detroit, MI, Thomas E. Maier, Clark Hill, Okemas, MI, for Defendant.
Before: MARTIN and MOORE, Circuit Judges; WEBER, District Judge.*
The Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the "1996 Act" or the "Act"), Pub.L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996) () fundamentally restructured local telephone markets by ending the era of state-granted telecommunications monopolies and by encouraging competition among providers of local telephone service. AT & T Corp. v. Iowa Utils. Bd., 525 U.S. 366, 371, 119 S.Ct. 721, 142 L.Ed.2d 835 (1996). To reach this objective, the 1996 Act required incumbent telecommunications carriers to share their networks with competitors in various ways. Nestled within the Act's local competition provisions is a detailed scheme for the creation of interconnection agreements that serve as the foundation for increased competition between Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers ("incumbents") and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers ("competitors"). See 47 U.S.C. §§ 251, 252. The Act's regulatory scheme explicitly foresees but also clearly circumscribes the participation of state regulatory entities in the commencement and enforcement of interconnection agreements. It is within this context that we consider the extent to which a state regulatory commission can encourage competitors to enter the market independent of the Act's provisions governing interconnection agreements.
Defendants-Appellants John G. Strand, Robert B. Nelson, and David A. Svanda, in their official capacities as Commissioners of the Michigan Public Service Commission ("MPSC" or "Commissioners"), appeal a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan vacating an MPSC order. The MPSC order, issued in February 2000, forced the corporate precursors of Plaintiffs-Appellees Verizon North Inc. and Verizon North Systems (collectively, "Verizon") to pay reciprocal compensation to Defendant Coast To Coast Telecommunications, Inc. ("Coast") for the costs of terminating telecommunications traffic bound for Internet Service Providers ("ISP") served by Coast. Verizon contended in federal court that the MPSC's order conflicted with the negotiation and arbitration provisions of the Act and thus was preempted. The district court vacated the MPSC order, and we AFFIRM for the reasons explained below.
The dispute between Verizon, an incumbent, and Coast, a competitor, concerns telecommunications traffic connecting end-user consumers to ISPs through equipment owned by Verizon and Coast. One of the purposes of the Act was to create a mechanism that forced incumbents to provide interconnectivity with the facilities and equipment of competitors. Otherwise, incumbents could halt efforts to increase competition in any local market. To this end, Congress provided a statutory mechanism to encourage the development of interconnection agreements between competitors and incumbents. Coast did not have any such agreement with Verizon. However, Coast did have an interconnection agreement with Ameritech, a different incumbent, under which Coast provided telephone and other services within the territory of Ameritech.
When a Verizon customer attempts to contact an ISP that is a Coast customer, the Verizon customer uses a computer modem to place a "local" call to an ISP with an NPA/NXX number assigned to Coast (NPA represents the area code, NXX represents the first three digits of a seven-digit local number). The call is first transferred to Ameritech's facilities before it is routed to Coast via Coast's Pontiac Exchange switch. Coast eventually connects the call to the ISP. The presence of Ameritech as a carrier is necessary because Coast neither provides local exchange service within Verizon's territory nor connects its facilities directly with those belonging to Verizon. ISP-bound calls are considered to be "local," and end-users are charged for a local call only by virtue of prior pronouncements of the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") on the issue. In reality, ISP-bound calls often travel beyond the local exchange area, and the websites accessed via the ISP are often located in different states or even different countries.
The chief dispute between Verizon and Coast revolves around the costs of terminating telecommunications traffic. Local carriers often reciprocally compensate each other for the transportation and termination of local telephone calls according to rates established in their interconnection agreements. There has been considerable debate over whether incumbents must broach the issue of reciprocal compensation for the termination of ISP-bound "local calls" when forming interconnection agreements, see infra pps. 14-19, but in any event, Coast and Verizon had no interconnection agreement.
Coast claimed that Verizon was responsible for the costs of terminating ISP-bound traffic originating from Verizon customers. Coast had filed a tariff with the MPSC pursuant to which Coast established a rate of 1.5 cents per minute in reciprocal compensation charges. Coast informed Verizon that based upon 7.9 million minutes of ISP-bound traffic between March 9 and July 31, 1999, Verizon owed Coast almost $120,000. Verizon refused to pay. Consequently, on August 18, 1999, Coast filed an application with the MPSC, requesting that the MPSC resolve the dispute. Verizon argued in response that the MPSC did not possess subject matter jurisdiction over ISP-bound calls because they are interstate in nature. Verizon also contended that it was not required to pay reciprocal compensation for the termination of calls in the absence of an interconnection agreement negotiated or arbitrated pursuant to 47 U.S.C. §§ 251, 252. The MPSC denied Verizon's motion to dismiss on September 30, 1999, and held a full evidentiary hearing on November 4, 1999.
The MPSC made its ruling on February 22, 2000. It exercised jurisdiction over the dispute even though Coast relied "on its tariff, and not an interconnection agreement, as the basis for imposing termination charges on [Verizon]." Joint Appendix ("J.A.") at 11. In so holding, the MPSC relied on a past decision, Bierman v. CenturyTel of Mich., Inc., Case No. U-11821 (Mich. Pub. Serv. Comm'n Apr. 12, 1999), in which it ruled that interconnection between two local exchange carriers can be accomplished by interconnection agreement or by tariff. The MPSC rejected Verizon's argument that ISP-bound traffic was subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government because it was inherently interstate. In rejecting this contention, the MPSC noted that even if the FCC did construe such traffic as being interstate in nature, the FCC did not disrupt preexisting state-commission decisions to the contrary. To further support its holding that a state tariff can supplant an interconnection agreement, the MPSC stated, "Although the FCC may have assumed that an interconnection agreement will be the typical setting in which reciprocal compensation disputes over ISP traffic are resolved, it did not dictate that a state act only in that context." J.A. at 12. The MPSC concluded that Verizon was responsible for the termination charges.
Verizon brought an action against the Commissioners and Coast in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on March 24, 2000, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.1 Both parties agreed to have the district court decide the case without any additional discovery, and both parties contended that they were entitled to summary judgment. The district court initially rejected Verizon's contention that ISP-bound traffic was exempted from the Act's reciprocal compensation requirements because the FCC's regulations reaching such a conclusion had been vacated by the D.C. Circuit. See WorldCom, Inc. v. FCC, 288 F.3d 429, 433 (D.C.Cir.2002). The district court agreed with Verizon that the MPSC erred when it required Verizon to pay Coast in the absence of an interconnection agreement between the parties. The court reasoned that using a state tariff as a substitute for an interconnection agreement sidestepped the negotiation and arbitration provisions of the Act. See 47 U.S.C. § 252. Accordingly, the district court held, "Because the MPSC approved [Coast]'s tariff without the parties satisfying the clear dictates of § 252's negotiation/arbitration process, the MPSC acted contrary to the [Act]." J.A. at 32. The district court vacated the MPSC decision and remanded the case, and the Commissioners timely appealed.2
On appeal, the Commissioners renew the argument they presented at the district court, i.e., that state enforcement of Coast's tariff is not preempted by the Act. They aver that interconnection agreements negotiated pursuant to § 252 are not the exclusive manner by which incumbents can be made responsible for reciprocal compensation. Verizon responds by asserting that the MPSC is collaterally estopped from challenging the district court's ruling because of the MPSC's defeat in Verizon North, Inc. v. Strand, 309 F.3d 935 (6th Cir.2002). Verizon also alternatively contends that the...
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