Arent Fox LLP won a major victory for its client Core Communications, Inc. when attorneys Michael Hazzard and Joseph Bowser obtained a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reinstating Core’s Maryland Public Service Commission victory against Verizon.
The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of Core, holding that a federal district court wrongly reversed Core’s victory before the Maryland Public Service Commission. In 1999 the Maryland PSC found that Verizon had breached the parties’ contract and violated federal telecommunications laws by wrongly delaying action on Core’s request for interconnection of its network with Verizon’s network in Baltimore, effectively freezing it out of the market. The Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded the case to the trial court to determine whether Verizon also breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing it owed Core, and to calculate Core’s damages.
“The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was designed to enable new Local Exchange Carriers to enter local telephone markets with ease and to reduce monopoly control of these markets and increase competition among providers,” wrote Judge Roger L. Gregory for the Fourth Circuit. “We find that the ILEC, Verizon Maryland, Inc. violated the rules as promulgated by the FCC when it refused to provide the CLEC, Core Communications, Inc. with the technically feasible, non-discriminatory interconnection that Core had requested. Therefore, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment and find that, as a matter of law, Verizon breached the ICA.”
To read the Court of Appeal’s opinion in the case, Verizon Maryland, Inc. v Core Communications, Inc., please click here.
