WASHINGTON-The Ohio Supreme Court on Dec. 30 said that a wireless reseller may sue Verizon Wireless Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. for more than $2 million in damages for charging the reseller discriminatory prices.
“This is just a David and Goliath story. Cellnet has been fighting them for 10 years to have them comply with Ohio law and they never did,” said Randy Hart, outside counsel for Cellnet of Ohio Inc.
Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless (originally AirTouch Cellular and Ameritech Cellular) argued that the Ohio Public Utilities Commission could not require them to charge nondiscriminatory rates due to the wireless pre-emption clause found in Section 332 of the Communications Act. The Ohio Supreme Court disagreed.
“We conclude that the commission’s determination in this complaint was not regulation of appellants’ rates under Section 332 because it was ‘regulating the other terms and conditions of [appellants’] commercial mobile services,” wrote Judge Francis E. Sweeney Sr. for the court.
Cellnet can now go before a jury to seek damages for discriminatory conduct. That trial was originally scheduled for Dec. 2, but was stayed pending the ruling from the Ohio Supreme Court.
Cellnet originally complained that AirTouch (now Verizon) was not following Ohio law in 1991. Since that time, Cellnet has pleaded its case in every conceivable court, said Mike Tricarichi, president of Cellnet:
“Cingular and Verizon have taken us to almost every court in the land. They have been trying to derail this case for the last nine years. At this point in time, this case is not stoppable. They have exhausted every opportunity except for the federal Supreme Court,” said Tricarichi, noting he doubted they would seek U.S. Supreme Court review.
Neither Verizon nor Cingular responded to request for comment by RCR Wireless News’ deadline.
