Western Radio Services Co. v. Centurytel of Eastern Oregon, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

In this action under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 251 et seq., Plaintiff Western Radio Services Co. appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment on Western Radio’s claims for review of several orders of the Public Utility Commission of Oregon and the district court’s dismissal of Western Radio’s damages claim against CenturyTel of Eastern Oregon, Inc. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . Reviewing de novo, we affirm.

The district court dismissed as moot Western Radio’s claim for review of the commission’s order that CenturyTel could on a case-by-case basis waive its rural exemption under the Act (which exempts rural telephone companies from several of the Act’s obligations). See 47 U.S.C. § 251 (f). The district court did so because, while the case was pending, CenturyTel’s parent company entered into a binding agreement with the FCC promising that its subsidiaries would not assert the rural exemption.

Western Radio argues that this case falls into the “voluntary cessation” exception to mootness. But because the FCC agreement is binding and does not expire, there is “no reasonable expectation ... that the alleged violation will…