Empire One Telecommunications, Inc. v. Verizon New York, Inc.

26 Misc. 3d 541
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 22, 2009
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 26 Misc. 3d 541 (Empire One Telecommunications, Inc. v. Verizon New York, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Empire One Telecommunications, Inc. v. Verizon New York, Inc., 26 Misc. 3d 541 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Carolyn E. Demarest, J.

In this action by plaintiff Empire One Telecommunications, Inc. alleging, inter alia, breach of an interconnection agreement, defendant Verizon New York, Inc. moves, pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7), for an order dismissing the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth causes of action of Empire’s complaint, and dismissing Empire’s first cause of action and all other claims in Empire’s complaint to the extent that they seek consequential damages.

Background

Empire is a certified facilities based, competitive local exchange carrier (CLEG) with a valid certificate of public convenience and necessity filed with the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) (see 47 USC § 153 [26]). Empire has approximately 10,000 customers to whom it provides telecommunications services. Verizon is an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), which also provides telecommunications services (see 47 USC § 251 [h]). The two service providers are connected through a transmission network which is apparently controlled by Verizon by virtue of its ownership of the physical equipment. Empire has the right to charge Verizon and all other similarly connected telecommunications carriers (other CLECs, long-distance companies, and commercial cellular radiotelephone service providers) for calls originating from other carriers’ customers that terminate with Empire’s customers. It also pays Verizon a fee for the use of its equipment.

[545]*545Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 USC § 151 et seq.), Verizon became obligated to provide certain telecommunications services to CLECs like Empire, allowing Empire to interconnect its network with Verizon’s network. Verizon is required by statute to connect calls from interconnecting carriers to Empire. When a customer of another interconnecting carrier dials a telephone call to an Empire customer, the telephone call goes into a Verizon exchange that routes it to Empire’s hub so that the call can reach its final destination at Empire’s customer. Since the telephone call terminates at an Empire customer, Empire is entitled to bill the interconnecting carrier for routing the call through Empire’s network. The amount Empire bills the interconnecting carrier depends on the nature of the call, with long-distance calls costing more than local calls. The equipment of the interconnecting carrier “talks” with the equipment at Verizon, thus enabling Verizon to determine the originating caller’s number, and the destination and time of the call.

Effective August 21, 2001, Verizon and Empire entered into an interconnection agreement (interconnection agreement) providing for the interconnection of their networks in the State of New York pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 USC § 151 et seq.). This was accomplished by Empire’s exercise of its rights under a provision of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (see 47 USC § 252 [i]) which permitted it to adopt or opt into an existing interconnection agreement between Verizon and another CLEC, Sprint Communications Company L.E, which had already been approved by the Fublic Service Commission. In accepting Empire’s election, Verizon noted that no negotiation of any kind occurred between Empire and Verizon in concluding the contractual relationship between them.

Section 1.0 (b) of the interconnection agreement incorporates by reference Verizon’s tariffs, filed with the applicable regulatory agencies, pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 (47 USC § 151 et seq., as amended), that govern its provision of services and facilities. One of the incorporated tariffs is Verizon’s ESC NY Tariff No. 8 (Tariff No. 8), which provides pricing and other terms for Verizon’s providing call records to Empire.

Section 7.1.7 (C) of Tariff No. 8 states:

“1. The Telephone Company [Verizon] will provide recording service in association with TSA [the telecommunications service agreement] when it [546]*546provides SSP functions to the CLEG or makes terminating access records. Recording service includes recording of call details, assembly, editing, formatting, and sorting of detailed call records and transmission of these call records to the CLEG in the standard industry format via first class US mail, by magnetic tape or other suitable transmission medium mutually agreed to by the CLEG and the Telephone Company [Verizon].
“2. The Telephone Company [Verizon] will provide ongoing support to the CLEG in investigating claims or reconciling recorded information in routine record tracking.”

Part V section 4.2.2 of the interconnection agreement specifies that Verizon will provide Empire with call records formatted in industry standard exchange message interface form. Section 36.6.2 of Tariff No. 8 provides that Verizon will charge Empire $0.0102 for each call record provided. Call records are created from Verizon’s centralized automatic message accounting and database information. Empire alleges that these call records are essential to determining the jurisdiction (i.e., intrastate, interstate, intra-LATA [local], inter-LATA [long distance]) of calls originated by customers of other carriers that transit its network so that it can invoice these carriers.

The call records that Empire receives list three types of carriers: (1) long-distance carriers, (2) other CLECs, and (3) mobile carriers. In order to invoice the correct carrier, the call records must include certain information, including, but not limited to: the date and time of call, the originating telephone number in NPA form,1 the terminating telephone number in NPA form, the duration of the call, a valid “LATA identifier,” a valid settlement code, a valid originating local routing number, a valid “OCN” (for intra-LATA calls), and a valid “CIC” (for interLATA calls).

Empire alleges that Verizon has manipulated the call records supplied to it by replacing some of the information it receives from other CLECs and wireless carriers with information that renders the call records useless for the very purpose for which they are intended. Specifically, Empire claims that between 20% and 35% of the call records it received from Verizon contain the following invalid information: (1) the originating telephone [547]*547number appears as “000-000-0000” instead of NPA-NXX-XXXX; (2) the field for “Indicator 19,” a field known as the LATA identifier, contains a value of “9,” which indicates “not determined,” when it should contain a value of “1” through “8”; and (3) the settlement code contains a value of “Z,” which indicates that the settlement code could not be identified. Empire asserts that the omission of this information has prevented it from determining the originating jurisdiction or types of telephone calls, and has precluded it from charging the originating carrier for the services provided by Empire. Empire claims that Verizon is capable of including all of the information necessary to properly invoice these other carriers, but Verizon has refused Empire’s requests to provide complete and adequate call records.

From January through November 2008, Empire paid Verizon $824,293.49 for 90,813,087 call records. Empire estimates that 15,646,238 of these call records were invalid due to Verizon’s failure to provide adequate call information.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 Misc. 3d 541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/empire-one-telecommunications-inc-v-verizon-new-york-inc-nysupct-2009.