Verizon New England v. Maine Public Utilities Commission

229 F.R.D. 335, 2005 WL 1705351
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maine
DecidedJuly 21, 2005
DocketNo. 05-CV-53-B-S
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 229 F.R.D. 335 (Verizon New England v. Maine Public Utilities Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Verizon New England v. Maine Public Utilities Commission, 229 F.R.D. 335, 2005 WL 1705351 (D. Me. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTION TO INTERVENE

SINGAD, Chief Judge.

Before the Court is the Motion to Intervene (Docket # 10) by Biddeford Internet Corporation, Skowhegan Online, Inc., and Cornerstone Communications, LLC. The movants seek intervention of right under Rule 24(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in this ease between Plaintiff Verizon New England (“Verizon”) and Defendant Maine Public Utilities Commission (“MPUC”). Verizon, which is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from two orders of the MPUC in the underlying ease, opposes the Motion to Intervene. For the reasons stated below the Court DENIES WITHOUT PREJUDICE the Motion to Intervene.

I. BACKGROUND

This federal preemption case involves a potential conflict between provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the “1996 Act”) and two orders of the MPUC. The 1996 Act fundamentally overhauled the market for local telephone service by requiring local telephone companies — which until the 1996 Act’s passage were usually the sole providers of local phone service in their service areas— to “unbundle” their telephone networks. This unbundling requirement essentially opened the doors to competition in local telephone service. It allowed would-be competitors to use parts of the local telephone company’s infrastructure to offer competing local service plans. The phone companies subject to the unbundling requirements are known as incumbent local exchange carriers (“ILECs”) and the competitors are known as competitive local exchange carriers (“CLECs”). In this case, Plaintiff Verizon is an ILEC and the prospective intervenors are CLECs.

Under the 1996 Act, access to some, but not all, parts of an ILEC’s network infrastructure must be offered to CLECs at regulated below-market rates. The 1996 Act leaves it to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), guided by certain standards, to determine whether a particular part of an ILEC’s infrastructure should be offered to CLECs at these below-market rates. See 47 U.S.C. § 251(d)(2). According to Verizon’s Complaint, among those parts of the telephone network infrastructure that the FCC has ruled need not be offered to CLECs at below-market rates is that part of the telephone network that enables broadband internet service through telephone lines, commonly known as DSL.

Verizon’s Complaint alleges that the MPUC issued two orders that effectively required Verizon to continue to provide CLECs [337]*337with access to portions of its network determined by the FCC to be outside the scope of the 1996 Act’s unbundling requirements. Verizon argues that these MPUC orders are “inconsistent with decisions of the FCC and the plain language of the 1996 Act, and thus are contrary to federal law and preempted.” (Compl. (Docket # 1) H 69.) Verizon seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the MPUC from enforcing its orders.

The movants are three CLECs that have agreements with Verizon to utilize portions of its network under the 1996 Act’s unbundling requirements. These parties were active participants in the proceedings before the MPUC which led to the orders now challenged by Verizon. The movants successfully urged the MPUC to require Verizon to continue to offer CLECs certain parts of its network at below-market prices. The movants now claim that they should be permitted to intervene in this case in which Verizon seeks to enjoin enforcement of the very orders that they fought to obtain from the MPUC.

II. ANALYSIS

A party that wishes to intervene in a civil action under Rule 24(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure must satisfy four requirements:

(1) a timely application for intervention;
(2) a demonstrated interest relating to the property or. transaction that forms the basis of the ongoing action; (3) a satisfactory showing that the disposition of the action threatens to create a practical impairment or impediment to its ability to protect that interest; and (4) a satisfactory showing that existing parties inadequately represent its interest.

Public Serv. Co. v. Patch, 136 F.3d 197, 204 (1st Cir.1998). Intervention is proper only if all four requirements are satisfied. Id. Verizon claims that the movants have demonstrated neither a sufficient interest in the proceedings nor that Defendant inadequately represents their interests.

A. Interests of the Prospective Intervenors

The First Circuit has not adopted a categorical approach in determining whether a prospective intervenor has a sufficient “interest relating to the property or transaction,” stating that “there is no precise and authoritative definition of the interest required to sustain a right to intervene.” Conservation Law Found., Inc. v. Mosbacher, 966 F.2d 39, 42 (1st Cir.1992). However, “the intervenor’s claims must bear a sufficiently close relationship to the dispute between the original litigants” and “the interest must be direct, not contingent.” Id. (citing Travelers Indent. Co. v. Dingwell, 884 F.2d 629, 638 (1st Cir.1989)). While “potential economic harm to a would-be intervenor is a factor that warrants serious consideration in the interest inquiry, ... an undifferentiated, generalized interest in the outcome of an ongoing action is too porous a foundation on which to premise intervention as of right.” Patch, 136 F.3d at 205 (1st Cir.1998). Thus, the First Circuit found in Patch that, in the context of a dispute over electricity deregulation, an economic interest in lower electric rates that cannot be differentiated from that of “every electricity consumer” and “every person who does business with an electricity consumer” does not create a sufficient interest in the “property or transaction” to allow intervention. Id.

However, this case is distinguishable from Patch in that the prospective intervenors are claiming to be direct and intended beneficiaries of a regulatory scheme designed to allow them to compete with Plaintiff by granting them access to Plaintiffs network. Furthermore, they currently have contractual relationships with Plaintiff structured in reliance on this regulatory scheme. Therefore, rather than being undifferentiated consumers of Verizon’s services with a mere contingent interest in paying lower prices, the CLECs have direct contractual and competitive interests in the availability of Verizon’s unbundled network parts. If Verizon successfully obtains an injunction against the MPUC, the prospective intervenors could be effectively denied network services to which they currently enjoy a right to access. Based on these facts, it is clear that the prospective intervenors have satisfied prongs [338]*338two and three of the four-part test.1

B. Adequacy of Representation

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
229 F.R.D. 335, 2005 WL 1705351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/verizon-new-england-v-maine-public-utilities-commission-med-2005.