Direct Media Corp. v. Camden Telephone & Telegraph Co.

989 F. Supp. 1211, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20954
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 2, 1997
DocketCV296-108
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 989 F. Supp. 1211 (Direct Media Corp. v. Camden Telephone & Telegraph Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Direct Media Corp. v. Camden Telephone & Telegraph Co., 989 F. Supp. 1211, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20954 (S.D. Ga. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

ALAIMO, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Direct Media Corporation (“Direct Media”), brings this action seeking in-junctive and monetary relief for alleged violations of the Sherman Act, the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and the Georgia Fair Trade and Practices Act. Defendants, *1215 Camden Telephone and Telegraph Company, Ine. (“Camden Telephone”), and TDS Telecom, Inc. (“TDS”), are corporations engaged in the business of providing local telephone service. Currently before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons stated below, Defendants’ motion for summary judgment will, be DENIED IN PART and GRANTED IN PART. All further proceedings in this matter will be STAYED.

FACTS

Plaintiff, Direct Media, is a Georgia corporation whose sole shareholder is Gerry Scre-ven (“Screven”). Direct Media is the independent publisher of a, telephone advertising directory named the “Peach Pages.” The Peach Pages resembles the familiar Yellow Pages.' Screven published his first directory in Waycross, Georgia in 1986. In 1993, Scre-ven published the Kings Bay/Camden directory, which is the subject matter of this litigation.

Defendant, Camden Télephone, is located in St. Mary’s, Georgia and provides the local telephone service for the Camden County area. Camden Telephone also publishes the white and yellow pages for the area. Defendant, TDS, is an Iowa corporation that owns fifty-one percent of Camden Telephone and manages Camden Telephone. The remaining forty-nine percent of Camden Telephone is owned by local shareholders. Consolidated Communications Directories, Inc. (“CCD”) 1 entered into a contract with Camden Telephone in 1992, wherein CCD agreed to solicit advertisers for Camden Telephone’s yellow pages and to publish its directory. CCD pays Camden Telephone seventy percent of the revenue generated. Camden Telephone maintains an updated subscriber database and provides that database to CCD for the publication of the white pages.

In 1992, Direct Media prepared to publish a directory for the Camden County area. The sales staff solicited advertising in the area. An independent publisher, such as Direct Media, can obtain the subscriber information for the white pages either by purchasing the information from the local provider or by simply copying the information from the telephone “book on the street.” In 1993, Screven informed Marion Sharp (“Sharp”), the general manager of Camden Telephone, that he intended to publish a directory. They discussed the price for the subscriber information. Sharp contends that he told Screven he would sell the information for two dollars a listing.. Screven contends that he was told the cost would be three dollars a listing. Screven decided not to purchase the information and published the directory in May 1993 by copying the Camden Telephone listings from the. existing white pages. In October 1994, Direct Media again published the .directory by copying the Camden Telephone listings. Neither of these directories made a profit.

In February 1996, Screven sent a letter to the local phone companies in all the markets where, he published directories, including Camden Telephone, and demanded the current listings of service subscribers at a reasonable cost. 2 On March 19, 1996, Screven sent another letter to Camden Telephone complaining of the failure to respond. Scre-ven then was referred to Jerry Masters at TDS, who was responsible for the directory publishing activities of all companies owned by TDS. On March 25, 1996, Sharp gave Screven a qúote of forty-eight cents per listing. At the same time, Cindy Overbeck (“Overbeck”), an employee of CCD, ordered a copy of the Camden Telephone list produced by Reed Technologies for Direct Me *1216 dia. Overbeck also sent Direct Media a license agreement in which TDS and Camden Telephone agreed to provide the listing information to Direct Media on certain terms and conditions. Screven did not sign the agreement and, instead, demanded the information for four cents a listing by the close of business of March 27, 1996. The information was never provided. On July 2, 1996, Direct Media filed its complaint alleging violation of the Sherman Act, the 1996 Telecommunications Act and the Georgia Fair Trade and Practices Act.

DISCUSSION

I. Summary Judgment

Summary judgment requires the movant to establish the absence of genuine issues of material fact, such that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Lordmann Enterprises, Inc. v. Equicor, Inc., 32 F.3d 1529, 1532 (11th Cir.1994), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 930, 116 S.Ct. 335, 133 L.Ed.2d 234 (1995). After the movant meets this burden, “the non-moving party must make a sufficient showing to establish the existence of each essential element to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Howard v. BP Oil Co., 32 F.3d 520, 524 (11th Cir.1994) (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986)). The non-moving party to a summary judgment motion only must make this showing after the moving party has satisfied its burden. Clark v. Coats & Clark, Inc., 929 F.2d 604, 608 (11th Cir.1991).

The Court should consider the pleadings, depositions, and affidavits in the case before reaching its decision, Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), and all reasonable inferences will be made in favor of the nonmovant. Griesel v. Hamlin, 963 F.2d 338, 341 (11th Cir.1992). Additionally, a “court need not permit a case to go to a jury ... when the inferences that are drawn from the evidence, and upon which the non-movant relies, are ‘implausible.’ ” Mize v. Jefferson City Bd. of Educ., 93 F.3d 739, 743 (11th Cir.1996). Furthermore, when the evidence is only circumstantial, summary judgment may be granted when a court “concludes that no reasonable jury may infer from the assumed facts the conclusions upon which the non-movant’s claim rests.” Id.

II. Federal Antitrust Violations under the Sherman Act

A. Conspiracy under 15 U.S.C.A. § 1

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Bluebook (online)
989 F. Supp. 1211, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20954, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/direct-media-corp-v-camden-telephone-telegraph-co-gasd-1997.