CCCOK, Inc. v. Southwestern Bell Telephone L.P.

444 F. App'x 267
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedOctober 26, 2011
Docket11-6016
StatusUnpublished

This text of 444 F. App'x 267 (CCCOK, Inc. v. Southwestern Bell Telephone L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CCCOK, Inc. v. Southwestern Bell Telephone L.P., 444 F. App'x 267 (10th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

SCOTT M. MATHESON, JR., Circuit Judge.

In 2005, Appellant CCCOK, Inc. (“CCCOK”) filed a complaint at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (“OCC”) against Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. (“SWBT”). 1 CCCOK sought an order directing SWBT to pay it over two-million dollars in compensation for SWBT’s alleged breach of a contract between CCCOK and SWBT (the “Parties”).

The OCC rejected CCCOK’s claim, concluding that CCCOK was not entitled to compensation under the “clear and unambiguous” language of the Parties’ contract. CCCOK, Inc. v. Sw. Bell Tel., L.P., OCC Order No. 538697, at 5 (May 2, 2007) (“OCC Order”). The OCC also noted in dicta that “the interpretation of the [contract] urged by [CCCOK] [was] unreasonable and contrary to the public interest, and [that it] would lead to unintended and absurd consequences.” Id.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma affirmed the OCC’s ruling. CCCOK appealed. On appeal, CCCOK contends that the OCC’s ruling was arbitrary and capricious because it: (1) disregarded the terms of the Parties’ contract; (2) contradicted record evidence; and (3) violated CCCOK’s rights under state and federal law.

The district court had jurisdiction to consider CCCOK’s claim pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 252(e)(6). See Sw. Bell Tel. Co. v. Brooks Fiber Commc’ns. of Okla., Inc., 235 F.3d 493, 497 (10th Cir.2000). Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we hold that the OCC’s ruling was not arbitrary and capricious and we affirm the district court’s decision.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual and Legal Background

This appeal concerns the OCC’s rejection of a claim of breach of contract filed by CCCOK against SWBT. The Parties’ adopted their contract, and the OCC approved it, pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (the “Telecommunications Act” or the *270 “Act”). We begin by providing a brief overview of the Telecommunications Act.

1. The Telecommunications Act

Congress passed the Telecommunications Act “to encourage competition in the telephone services industry.” Brooks, 285 F.3d at 495. The Act requires local exchange carriers 2 — i.e., telephone companies — competing within the same geographic area to “interconnect” their telephone networks “to ensure that callers who subscribe to one local telephone service can receive calls from, and place calls to, those who subscribe to a different local telephone service.” Id.

The Act also requires local exchange carriers to “establish reciprocal compensation arrangements for the transport and termination of telecommunications.” 47 U.S.C. § 251(b)(5). Such arrangements provide that when a customer of Carrier A makes a local call to a customer of Carrier B, the carrier for the calling party (Carrier A) is required to compensate the carrier for the called party (Carrier B) for transporting and terminating — i.e., delivering— the call to its destination. See 47 C.F.R. § 51.701(e).

The exact terms and conditions under which local exchange carriers interconnect and provide reciprocal compensation are contained in contracts referred to as “interconnection agreements.” See Brooks, 285 F.3d at 495. The Act requires that all interconnection agreements be approved by a state commission, which must ensure that a proposed agreement complies with the Telecommunication Act’s provisions. See 47 U.S.C. § 252(e)(1), (2)(b).

In many instances, the terms of an interconnection agreement are created through mutual negotiation. However, section 252(i) of the Telecommunications Act requires local exchange carriers to “make available any interconnection, service, or network element provided [in any interconnection agreement] to which it is a party to any other requesting telecommunications carrier upon the same terms and conditions as those provided in the agreement.” 47 U.S.C. § 252(i). Thus, new local exchange carriers may choose to adopt the terms of an existing interconnection agreement and to have that agreement approved by the relevant state commission instead of negotiating new terms with an existing local exchange carrier. See id.

2. The Parties

SWBT is a local exchange carrier that provides traditional landline telephone service throughout the state of Oklahoma. Sometime before 1998, Ted L. Snider — the owner and creator of CCCOK — learned of an interconnection agreement between SWBT and another local exchange company that featured “an unusually high reciprocal compensation rate ... for exchange of Local Traffic.” Aplt. Opening Br., at 4 n. 2.

As CCCOK acknowledges in its brief, Mr. Snider designed a plan to “exploit the ... opportunity presented by the unusually high reciprocal compensation rate.” Id. To accomplish his objective, Mr. Snider began operating two entities in the state of Oklahoma: (1) Zipramp, Inc., an internet service provider; and (2) CCCOK, a local exchange company that provided “managed modem services” to ZipRamp. Zi-pRamp was CCCOK’s only end user. In other words, ZipRamp was the only customer that subscribed to CCCOK’s managed modem service.

*271 In 1998, CCCOK adopted the terms of the existing interconnection agreement between SWBT and the other local exchange carrier that featured the “unusually high reciprocal compensation rate.” Id. In 1999, the OCC approved the interconnection agreement between CCCOK and SWBT (the “IGA”).

3. TheICA

Section III of the ICA contains a reciprocal compensation agreement, which, in pertinent part, states:

For purposes of compensation under this Agreement, the telecommunications traffic traded between the Parties shall be classified as either Local traffic, Through-put traffic, IntraLata Interex-change traffic, or InterLATA Interex-change ....

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Bluebook (online)
444 F. App'x 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cccok-inc-v-southwestern-bell-telephone-lp-ca10-2011.