Opinion ID: 414451
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Evidence Relating to the Reasonableness of the Interface

Text: 103 Tariffs and AT & T's Opposition to Certification 104 AT & T objects to the trial court's treatment of three other items of evidence, all of which were offered by either AT & T or Litton as bearing on the reasonableness of the interface tariffs or AT & T's opposition to certification standards. The first ruling to which AT & T takes exception is the admission of various FCC decisions that described AT & T's tariffs as unreasonable, illegal, discriminatory, or unlawful. Although the trial court excised the words unlawful and illegal at AT & T's request, it refused to remove portions stating, for example, that the interface tariff was unnecessarily restrictive and an unjust and unreasonable discrimination. According to AT & T, the different meanings of reasonableness under the Sherman Act and the Communications Act justified its request to have these words removed and the jury was unavoidably prejudiced by the trial court's failure to do so. 105 We agree with Litton that these decisions were central both to Litton's claim that the PCA device was unnecessary and Litton's rebuttal of AT & T's defense that the interface tariff was an attempt to comply with previous FCC rulings. The order excluding all portions of the FCC rulings stating that the tariffs were unlawful or illegal gave AT & T all to which it was entitled because the FCC continually held after Hush-A-Phone that AT & T's practices were not necessary to protect the telephone system. The findings thus directly undercut the predicate of AT & T's argument that the PCA requirement was reasonable under the antitrust laws because it was an attempt to follow regulatory policy. The findings were properly admitted under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8)(C) as factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law. 45 Moreover, the court's charge made it clear to the jury that the term reasonable as used in the rulings did not necessarily signify the same thing as reasonableness under the antitrust laws and were therefore not binding. 106 AT & T's second objection contrasts the admission of the above FCC decisions with the trial court's exclusion of a 1969 New York State Public Service Commission decision upholding the interface as a reasonable means of protecting the network against harm. The trial court excluded the 1969 decision upon its own motion on the grounds that the monthly charge for the interface considered there was fifty cents, as opposed to the average monthly charge of over six dollars for the interface device challenged in this case. AT & T argues that it was deprived of an opportunity to prove to the jury that AT & T was not alone in its belief that the interface device was absolutely necessary to protect the telephone system from harm. Cf. Mid-Texas Communications Systems, Inc. v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co., 615 F.2d 1372, 1390 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 912, 101 S.Ct. 286, 66 L.Ed.2d 140 (1980). 107 We view this evidence as arguably probative of AT & T's position, and find it difficult to justify the exclusion of this decision in light of the admission of the various FCC rulings. Although there is a considerable difference in cost between the two interface devices, this goes more to the weight to be accorded the evidence than its admissibility; any confusion or prejudice probably could have been avoided by appropriate instructions. But we are also mindful of the fact that this was a complicated and extensive trial, involving four and one-half years of pretrial proceedings, five months of trial, more than 18,000 pages of testimony and 945 exhibits. If a jury trial of this size and complexity is to be had at all, the trial court must have the discretion to limit the evidence at some point. We cannot find that this exclusion amounted to prejudicial error. 108 AT & T's final objection to the trial court's evidentiary rulings involves a 1976 report prepared by a former member of the PBX Advisory Committee. The report indicated, inter alia, that AT & T's competitors viewed some of its practices in connection with the PCA requirement and general pricing scheme as anticompetitive. The trial court recognized that the report was hearsay, and therefore refused to admit it for its truth, but admitted the evidence for the limited purpose of showing what was reported to AT & T. But by 1976 Litton had left the terminal equipment market and the PBX Advisory Committee had completed its work. We therefore cannot see how the report bears on the only issue for which it could have been relevant, viz., whether AT & T knew that the Committee felt that AT & T's opposition to certification was in bad faith. Thus the ruling was erroneous, and the possible prejudicial effect--the report stated that AT & T's competitors felt that Bell pricing has virtually killed the Interconnect market--is troubling. We view the trial court's ruling as unfortunate, but do not believe that this ruling, or any of the other rulings, denied AT & T a fair trial even when considered collectively. Fed.R.Evid. 103(a); Fed.R.Civ.P. 61. See, e.g., McKinnon v. Skil Corp., 638 F.2d 270, 276 (1st Cir.1981) (ruling, if erroneous, harmless as not affecting substantial rights).