Opinion ID: 493663
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether FCC Order 81-312 was Regularly Made

Text: 30 Appellants' final challenge to jurisdiction under Sec. 401(b) seizes upon that section's requirement that an order be regularly made by the FCC. They contend that a substantive determination must be made that the FCC had authority to make Order 81-312. Appellants argue that the Commission was without authority to mandate a specific separations method for intrastate ratemaking. 31 We think that regularly made in Sec. 401(b) simply refers to procedural regularity. The substantive validity of FCC orders can be challenged only through actions under Sec. 402(a). ITT World Communications, Inc., 466 U.S. at 468 & n. 5, 104 S.Ct. at 1939 & n. 5 (also noting in dicta that challenges to validity of past agency conduct should be brought through actions for FCC declaratory rulings under doctrine of primary jurisdiction, not in district courts). It would defeat the purpose of Sec. 402(a) to interpret Sec. 401(b) to require a threshold finding of the FCC's authority to make particular rules. Appellants identify, and we have found, no procedural problems with the promulgation of Order 81-312. Consequently, the district court had subject matter jurisdiction under Sec. 401(b) to issue the injunction.II. THE JOHNSON ACT 32 As their final jurisdictional challenge, appellants argue that the Johnson Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1342, bars HawTel's action. The four conditions in the Johnson Act are conjunctive; therefore, all four conditions must be present to deprive the district court of jurisdiction. 22 DeKalb County v. Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company, 358 F.Supp. 498, 504 (N.D.Ga.1972), aff'd, 478 F.2d 700 (5th Cir.1973); United States v. Public Utilities Commission, 141 F.Supp. 168, 188 (N.D.Cal.1956), aff'd, 355 U.S. 534, 78 S.Ct. 446, 2 L.Ed.2d 470 (1958). 33 HawTel does not dispute that the final three conditions are met. 23 Instead, HawTel argues, and the district court found, that the Johnson Act is inapplicable because HawTel's action is not based solely on a claim of repugnance of the order to the Federal Constitution. See 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1342(1). Although appellee's action is based expressly on 47 U.S.C. Sec. 401(b) and FCC Order 81-312, appellants contend that it is in essence a preemption claim under the Supremacy Clause. 34 We have construed the term solely in Sec. 1342(1) narrowly. The Johnson Act applies only when [a challenge to a rate order] rests exclusively on 'repugnance of the order to the Federal Constitution.'  International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Public Service Commission, 614 F.2d 206, 210-11 (9th Cir.1980) (quoting 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1342(1)) (emphasis supplied) (upholding federal jurisdiction because the union's action depended in part on an interpretation of National Labor Relations Act). A claim of preemption does not meet this test. Id. at 211. The district court was correct in holding that the Johnson Act did not bar appellee's action.