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Third Circuit: Court Rules on Interconnection Agreement DisputeThe Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that disputes between telephone companies concerning interconnection agreements formed and approved pursuant to the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 must first be litigated before a state utility commission before proceeding to federal court. In Core Communications v. Verizon Pennsylvania Inc., No. 06-2419, a unanimous three-judge panel held that “interpretation and enforcement actions that arise after a state commission has approved an interconnection agreement must be litigated in the first instance before the relevant state commission. A party may then proceed to federal court to seek review of the commission’s decision or move on to the appropriate trial court to seek damages for a breach, if the commission finds one.” The Court reasoned that the allowing parties to circumvent state utility commissions in post-interconnection agreement formation disputes would undermine the Telecom Act’s “sense of cooperative federalism, under which the states were given primary responsibility over interconnection agreements.” The decision upheld the U.S. District Court’s dismissal of the breach of contract claim for lack of jurisdiction on the grounds that it had not yet been reviewed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. A copy of the full opinion is available by clicking here.
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