Opinion ID: 560450
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Americom's Petition

Text: 7 We take up first a petition for review filed by Americom out of an abundance of caution. Brief of Petitioner GE American Communications, Inc. at 350. Although the Commission concluded that Americom's 1981 rate increases were lawful, the FCC ruled against Americom on two intermediate issues: (1) Americom resisted the application of a substantial cause test to its rate increases; (2) Americom maintained that the Commission should not have considered the launch insurance proceeds for SATCOM F-3 in evaluating the reasonableness of Americom's rate increases. 8 We note, initially, our grave reservations whether Americom properly cast itself as a petitioner in this review proceeding. It is the general rule that a party may not appeal from a disposition in its favor. See Lindheimer v. Illinois Bell Tel. Co., 292 U.S. 151, 176, 54 S.Ct. 658, 668, 78 L.Ed. 1182 (1934); In re Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 773 F.2d 1325, 1328 (D.C.Cir.1985). Exceptions to this main rule have been made in circumstances not comparable to those presented here. See Deposit Guaranty Nat'l Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326, 336, 100 S.Ct. 1166, 1173, 63 L.Ed.2d 427 (1980) (permitting named plaintiffs to appeal denial of class action certification, in view of prospect of spreading litigation costs among larger group, even though defendants had tendered full payment of their claims); Electrical Fittings Corp. v. Thomas & Betts Co., 307 U.S. 241, 59 S.Ct. 860, 83 L.Ed. 1263 (1939) (allowing successful defendants in patent infringement suit to appeal from declaration that the patent, though not infringed, was valid); 4 International Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. ICC, 862 F.2d 330, 334 (D.C.Cir.1988) (allowing union to challenge by appeal ICC's authority to review arbitration awards, even though ICC had upheld such an award in union's favor). 9 Americom, beyond question, properly appeared as intervenor urging rejection of the cable programmers' petitions for review. In that role, Americom could have urged, alternately, that correction of Commission errors in rulings adverse to Americom attend any remand. See Jecker v. Montgomery, 54 U.S. (13 How.) 498, 517, 14 L.Ed. 240 (1852) (dismissing separate appeal of party who prevailed below because question of law decided against him ... was open for argument upon the appeal of the [adverse party]); cf. Telecommunications Research & Action Center v. FCC, 917 F.2d 585, 588 (D.C.Cir.1990) (dismissing for lack of standing petition for review by party who endorsed the end result reached by the FCC, but disagreed with the rationale employed by the Commission). 10 We recognize, in short, that Americom would have followed long-established practice had it simply raised as intervenor, alternately and defensively, the issues it sought to present as petitioner. We do not reach those issues, however, because Americom itself calls them moot should we deny the cable programmers' review petitions. See Brief of Petitioner GE American Communications, Inc. at 350. We therefore proceed to the cable programmers' petitions and explain why we affirm the orders on review.