COUNTY OF BUTLER v. CENTURYLINK

No. 66 WAP 2017.

207 A.3d 838 (2019)

COUNTY OF BUTLER, Appellee v. CENTURYLINK COMMUNICATIONS, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; the United Telephone Company of Pennsylvania LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Consolidated Communications of Pennsylvania, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Consolidated Communications Enterprise Services, Inc., and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Core Communications, Inc., and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Intermedia Communications of Florida, Inc., and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc., and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Level 3 Communications, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; TelCove of Eastern Pennsylvania, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; AT & T Corp., and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Teleport Communications America, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; US LEC of Pennsylvania, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Comcast Phone of Pennsylvania, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; Peerless Network of Pennsylvania, LLC, and All Subsidiaries and Related Entities; and ABC Companies 1 Through 20, Appellants.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Decided: April 26, 2019.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Keith Orr Brenneman, Esq. , Law Office of Keith O. Brenneman, P.C., for Cumberland County, Amicus Curiae.

Robert L. Byer, Esq. , Leah Ariel Mintz, Esq. , Duane Morris LLP, for Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, Amicus Curiae, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Amicus Curiae.

Joseph A. Curcillo III, Esq. , Curcillo & Maclay, for Dauphin County, Amicus Curiae.

J. Lynn DeHaven, Esq. , Goldfarb Posner Beck DeHaven & Drewitz, for Washington County, Amicus Curiae.

Garen Robert Fedeles, Esq. , for Beaver County, Amicus Curiae.

Christopher P. Gabriel, Esq. , Cafardi Ferguson Wyrick Weis + Stotler, for Clarion County, Amicus Curiae.

Melissa Ann Guiddy, Esq. , Westmoreland County Solicitor's Office, for Westmoreland County, Amicus Curiae.

Michael Lawrence Maddren, Esq. , Delaware County Solicitor's Office, for Delaware County, Amicus Curiae.

Christine Marie Sadler, Esq. , J Chadwick Schnee, Esq. , Berks County Solicitor's Office, for Berks County, Amicus Curiae.

Glenn John Smith, Esq. , County of York, Pennsylvania, for York County, Amicus Curiae.

Thomas L. Whiteman, Esq. , for Chester County, Amicus Curiae.

Daniel Carmeli, Esq. , John Kenneth Gisleson, Esq. , for Consolidated Communications Enterprise Services, Inc., Consolidated Communications of Pennsylvania, LLC, Peerless Network of Pennsylvania, LLC.

J. William Codinha, Esq. , Nixon Peabody , Christopher Queenin, Esq. , for Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC.

Michael F. Eichert Jr., Esq. , Thomas A. Leonard, Esq. , for Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc., Verizon Pennsylvania, LLC, Intermedia Communications of Florida, Inc.

Mark Fidanza, Esq. , Wayne Charles Stansfield, Esq. , Reed Smith LLP, for Level 3 Communications, LLC, TelCove of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Michael Alan Gruin, Esq. , for Core Communications, Inc.

Michael Joseph Joyce, Esq. , Saul Ewing LLP, Charles Kelly, Esq. , for AT & T Corp., Teleport Communications America, LLC.

Jason A. Levine, Esq. , for US LEC of Pennsylvania, LLC.

Justin Edward Proper, Esq. , for United Telephone Company of Pennsylvania LLC, CenturyLink Communications, LLC.

William L. Stang, Esq. , for Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC, Peerless Network of Pennsylvania, LLC.

Matthew Adam White, Esq. , for Comcast Phone of Pennsylvania, LLC.

Erik Louis Coccia, Esq. , Dilworth Paxson LLP, Marie-Theres DiFillippo, Esq. , Joshua D. Wolson, Esq. , for County of Butler.


OPINION

This issue accepted for review concerns whether counties may advance common law claims seeking legal redress against telecommunications companies for alleged deficiencies in their administration of fees associated with 911 emergency communication services.

I. Background

In 1990, the...

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