Filed: September 17, 1996

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Nos. 95-2743(L)

(CA-92-370-K)

Frontier Communications of the Mid Atlantic,

Inc., etc., et al,

Plaintiffs - Appellants,

versus

Long Distance Services, Inc., etc., et al,

Defendants - Appellees.

ORDER

The Court amends its opinion filed September 4, 1996, as

follows:

On page 2, section 2 -- the panel information is corrected to

read "Before WILKINS, LUTTIG, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.*"

On page 3, first full paragraph, line 4 -- a space is added

between "§ 1962(a)," and "(c)-(d)."

On page 3, second full paragraph, line 7 -- a period is added

after the "A" in "U.S.C.A."

For the Court - By Direction

/s/ Patricia S. Connor
Acting Clerk
UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS OF THE

MID ATLANTIC, INCORPORATED,

formerly known as Mid Atlantic

Telecom, Incorporated; WALTER C.

ANDERSON,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

No. 95-2743

v.

LONG DISTANCE SERVICES,

INCORPORATED, a/k/a Long Distance

Service of Washington,

Incorporated; RICHARD J. RICE,

Defendants-Appellees.

FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS OF THE

MID ATLANTIC, INCORPORATED,

formerly known as Mid Atlantic

Telecom, Incorporated; WALTER C.

ANDERSON,

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

No. 95-2744

v.

LONG DISTANCE SERVICES,

INCORPORATED, a/k/a Long Distance

Service of Washington,

Incorporated; RICHARD J. RICE,

Defendants-Appellants.

Appeals from the United States District Court

for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.

Frank A. Kaufman, Senior District Judge.

(CA-92-370-K)
Argued: July 8, 1996

Decided: September 4, 1996

Before WILKINS, LUTTIG, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.*

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

ARGUED: Harry Martin Rifkin, LEVIN & GANN, P.A., Baltimore,

Maryland, for Appellants. Michael R. Lewis, JAMES & HOFFMAN,

P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Edgar N. James,

JAMES & HOFFMAN, P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Plaintiffs, Frontier Communications of the Mid Atlantic, Incorporated and Walter C. Anderson (collectively, "Mid Atlantic"), and

Defendants, Long Distance Services, Incorporated and Richard J.

Rice (collectively, "LDS"), cross appeal the judgment of the district

court awarding damages and attorney's fees to Mid Atlantic. We

affirm.

_________________________________________________________________

* Judge Williams participated in the hearing of these appeals at oral

argument but recused herself prior to the time the decision was filed. The

decision is filed by a quorum of the panel. 28 U.S.C.A. § 46(d) (West

1993).

 2
In 1992, Mid Atlantic brought this action, alleging that LDS and

its president violated and conspired to violate provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). See 18

U.S.C.A. § 1962(a), (c)-(d) (West 1984 & Supp. 1996). Mid Atlantic

based its claim on LDS' use of a computer program that randomly

added additional time to the telephone calls of LDS' customers,

enabling the company to offer artificially lower rates than its competitors. This was intended to and did entice customers to change to LDS

as their long-distance service provider. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of LDS without permitting Mid Atlantic to

engage in discovery. In a prior opinion, this court vacated the grant

of summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings. See Mid

Atlantic Telecom, Inc. v. Long Distance Servs., Inc., 18 F.3d 260 (4th

Cir.), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 323 (1994).

Following remand, the parties proceeded to trial before the district

court. The lower court found that LDS had indeed engaged in the

scheme alleged and that Mid Atlantic had lowered its rates in some

instances as a result of LDS' fraudulent representations. The court

further found that Mid Atlantic was injured in the amount of

$17,210.31 as a result of LDS' RICO violation and then trebled that

amount. See 18 U.S.C.A. § 1964(c) (West Supp. 1996). And, the district court also assessed damages against LDS on Mid Atlantic's statelaw claims of unfair competition and tortious interference with contract. Finally, the court awarded reasonable attorney's fees to Mid

Atlantic. See id.

Both parties appeal from the judgment of the district court, raising

numerous errors. After carefully considering the arguments and briefs

of counsel and reviewing the record, we affirm the judgment of the

district court. Frontier Communications of the Mid Atlantic, Inc. v.

Long Distance Servs., Inc., No. 92-370 (D. Md. Aug. 24, 1995).

AFFIRMED

 3