Davel Communications v. Qwest Corporation

The Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“1996 Act”) largely deregulated the telecommunications industry. At the same time, the 1996 Act continued to regulate certain segments of the industry so as to increase competition overall. For example, to promote more competitive market conditions, the 1996 Act required incumbent local exchange carriers, including ap-pellee Qwest Corp., to provide access to their telephone lines and services essentially at their cost of providing the service.

In 1996 and 1997, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued a series of orders setting standards for rates and services offered by local carriers to payphone service providers. This case concerns claims by Davel Communications, Inc. and other payphone service providers (“Davel”) that, under the FCC’s 1996 and 1997 orders, Qwest owes reimbursements for periods in which it failed to file tariffs implementing the new standards or filed tariffs not compliant with the 1996 Act and its implementing regulations. The district court held the reimbursement claims barred by the filed-tariff doctrine and dismissed them without prejudice. In addition, the court dismissed on statute of limitations…