Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. v. V247 Telecom LLC

207 F. Supp. 3d 688, 2016 WL 4920285, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125843
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedSeptember 15, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 3:14-CV-1409-K
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 207 F. Supp. 3d 688 (Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. v. V247 Telecom LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. v. V247 Telecom LLC, 207 F. Supp. 3d 688, 2016 WL 4920285, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125843 (N.D. Tex. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ED KINKEADE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court is Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment Against V247 Telecom LLC and Saving Call LLC (Doc. No. 75). After careful consideration and review of the motion, the response, the supplemental response, the reply, the supporting appendices, the applicable law, and summary judgment record, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion for the following reasons.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, BellSouth Telecommunications, LLC, Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Indiana Bell Telephone Company, Incorporated, Michigan Bell Telephone Company, The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, Nevada Bell Telephone Company, Pacific Bell Telephone Company, and Wisconsin Bell, Inc. (collectively “Plaintiffs”) filed this lawsuit against Defendants V247 Telecom, LLC, Saving Call, LLC, EZ Fone, LLC, EZ Network, LP, LN Enterprises, LLC, Mr. Lan Ngo, and Mr. Khai Ngo for allegedly failing to pay originating switched access service charges for international and interstate long-distance telephone calls using Plaintiffs’ telecommunications network.

“Local exchange carriers” (“LECs”) are local telephone companies that provide traditional land-line phone service. LECs typically serve a small local service area covering a few local “exchanges,” which are designated by the first three numbers of a seven-digit phone number. Plaintiffs are incumbent local exchange carriers (“ILECs”), meaning they operated as monopolies in certain areas until the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“1996 Act”) opened the market to competition, allowing different carriers to serve the same exchange area. These different carriers are known as competitive local exchange carriers (“CLECs”) since they compete with ILECs.

Land-line calls placed and received within a local service area are “local calls”. When a local call involves two LECs, whether incumbent or competitive, both carriers incur costs for the local call because the caller’s carrier originates the call and the receiver’s carrier transports and terminates the call. Under the 1996 Act, carriers must enter into “reciprocal compensation agreements” for these local calls. These agreements require the caller’s carrier to compensate the recipient’s carrier for its costs in transporting and terminating local calls.

In addition to facilitating local calls, local phone networks are also needed to originate and terminate long-distance calls, whether interstate or international. For traditional long-distance calls, a caller directly dials a long-distance number then the LEC serving that caller routes it to the caller’s long-distance carrier. This process is known as “originating access”. The caller’s long-distance carrier then routes the call the LEC sexwing the recipient of that call, and that LEC completes the call by routing it to the recipient of the call. This process is known as “terminating access”. Because long-distance calls cannot normally be completed without originating and terminating access from an LEC, the long-distance carriers must order “access sendees” from the LEC, regardless of whether it is an incumbent or competitive carrier. The long-distance carrier incurs access charges from the LEC for this access services. The LEC serving the caller is entitled to “originating switched access [691]*691charges” from the long-distance carrier for that call. The LEC serving the recipient of the long-distance call is entitled to “terminating switched access charges”. This case involved “originating switched access charges.”

In addition to traditional direct dial, long-distance calls can also be made using prepaid calling cards which function essentially the same way as traditional long-distance calls. With prepaid calling cards, the caller typically dials a toll-free number (also known as an 8YY number) to become connected to the prepaid calling card provider’s platform, and then the provider transmits the call to the recipient in another state or country. Use of the toll-free number alerts the originating LEC that switched access charges are applicable. Defendants V247 Telecom LLC (“V247”) and Saving Call LLC (“Saving Call”) provide long-distance phone service through prepaid calling cards, which allow their customers to pay in advance for long-distance calls. But the cards offered and sold by Defendants V247 and Saving Call use local access numbers, instead of a toll-free number', to connect the caller to the prepaid calling card’s platform. Once the customer is connected to the calling card platform through the local access number, the customer then dials the actual long-distance number he would like to reach. When a local access number is used, the LEC is unaware that the destination of the call is a long-distance area, and that the call may terminate in a long-distance area. Therefore, an LEC is not alerted that a switched access charges applies when a prepaid calling card customer uses a local access number, as it would be when a toll-free number is used.

Plaintiffs filed this suit against Defendants alleging a violation of federal tariffs. Plaintiffs claim Defendants owe unpaid switched access charges to which Plaintiffs are entitled by federal law and tariffs for the interstate and/or international calls originating on Plaintiffs’ ILEC networks using the local access numbers provided on Defendants’ prepaid calling cards. Plaintiffs contend Defendants are evading payment of switched access charges by disguising the long-distance calls their customers are making as local calls through the use of local access numbers. Plaintiffs filed the instant motion for partial summary judgment against Defendants V247 and Saving Call as to their liability for originating switched access charges on their prepaid long-distance calls originating on Plaintiffs’ networks,

II. Legal Standard and Applicable Law

A. Standards for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, affidavits and other summary judgment evidence show that no genuine issue of material fact exists, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). A dispute of a material fact is “genuine” if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict in favor of the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). All evidence and reasonable inferences must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, and all disputed facts resolved in favor of the nonmovant. See United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962); Boudreaux v. Swift Transp. Co., Inc., 402 F.3d 536, 540 (5th Cir.2005).

The moving party bears the burden of identifying those portions of the record it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322-25, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Once the [692]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re: IntraMTA Switched Acces
961 F.3d 691 (Fifth Circuit, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 F. Supp. 3d 688, 2016 WL 4920285, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southwestern-bell-telephone-co-v-v247-telecom-llc-txnd-2016.