Opinion ID: 202245
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cost estimates as undisputed facts

Text: 30 The district court did not err by considering PRTC's estimates to be undisputed facts in analyzing the summary judgment motion. Through deposition transcripts and other documents submitted with its motion for summary judgment, PRTC presented the following facts relevant to the § 253(a) analysis, which the appellants now challenge: 1) PRTC's annual profit from the most recent fiscal year was about $70 million; 2) if every municipality in the Commonwealth were to impose ordinances with a 5% fee, the fees would cost PRTC approximately $60 million a year, ten times the $6 million that PRTC currently pays in municipal license taxes; and 3) the total amount of recurring taxes that PRTC already pays to municipalities (which includes municipal license taxes, real property taxes, and personal property taxes, but excludes construction excise taxes) is approximately $58 million annually. The district court noted that the [d]efendants have not controverted PRTC's numbers for purposes of summary judgment. 31 We agree. The appellants did not provide evidence of alternative estimates, challenge PRTC's method of estimating the impact of the ordinance fee, or offer an alternative basis for calculating the financial effect of the fee. Instead, the appellants merely argue in their briefs that PRTC's estimates are incorrect, without any evidence to support their claim. Thus, the appellants' arguments amount to conclusory and unsubstantiated denials of the facts set forth by PRTC. We therefore cannot conclude that the district court erred in finding PRTC's estimates to be undisputed. See Magee v. United States, 121 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir.1997) (Neither party may rely on conclusory allegations or unsubstantiated denials, but must identify specific facts derived from the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions and affidavits to demonstrate either the existence or absence of an issue of fact.). 32