Court Opinion

ID: 9463738
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:14:54.449996+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:15.769333
License: Public Domain

COFFIN, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
Were ours the first judicial effort to interpret these statutes, the court’s opinion might well carry the day for me. But, on a close issue of interpretation, I admit to being influenced by the fact that the only authority on point, Ward v. Northern Ohio Telephone Co., 300 F.2d 816 (6th Cir. 1962), is contrary. While I would not follow Ward to the extent of effectively implying a right of action for all violations of §§ 201-205, it seems to me that when we add its solitary and long-standing authority to the essentiality of a private damages action for the carrying out of the policies embodied in § 203, the consistency of such an action with the statutory scheme, and the opaqueness of the legislative history, the balance tips in favor of the action.
The consequences of the court’s holding are illustrated by the facts of this case. Here, PRTC’s tariff required that it permit the interconnection of privately owned telephonic equipment in accordance with a long-standing FCC policy. If PRTC had been disposed to comply with § 203 when it decided that this provision was too burdensome, it would have proposed a change in its tariff to the FCC at least thirty days before the effective date thereof. We may safely assume that the FCC would have denied this request sometime before the effective date. Companies like Comtronics would then have been spared the substantial financial losses they allegedly incurred, and the consumers of PRTC’s services would not have been temporarily denied the benefits of the interconnection policy. It is easy to see that § 203 is a key feature of the regulatory scheme; it enables the FCC to secure continuous carrier compliance with critical FCC policies.
The court’s holding today creates an incentive for connecting carriers to disregard the specified procedures for amending their tariffs. By ignoring § 203 and unilaterally amending its tariff to give itself a monopoly, PRTC bestowed an immense financial benefit on itself and caused enormous, perhaps irreparable, damage to its competitors. I have no difficulty assuming that the net financial advantage flowing to PRTC from the violation was greatly in excess of the maximum civil penalty which could be imposed, see § 203(b). I have no reason to doubt that other tariff violations will often be similarly profitable. Since the court refuses to imply a damages remedy, companies like PRTC will hereafter have a positive incentive to violate certain provisions of their tariffs. I cannot believe that Congress could have contemplated that the FCC’s ability to secure continuous compliance with its tariffs was to depend on how lucrative the violations thereof were to be.1
*709The court seems to recognize that the creation of a private damages remedy would eliminate the enforcement problem, but it believes that Congress has precluded the creation of such actions. Unlike the majority, I see no evidence of “an explicit [legislative] purpose to deny such cause of action.” Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 82, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 2090, 45 L.Ed.2d 26 (1975), and I believe such a remedy would be consistent with the statutory scheme.
For present purposes, I am willing to assume that Congress intended that §§ 206-07 should not apply to connecting carriers. However, it does not follow that Congress specifically intended that connecting carriers should be immune from damages liability under each and every statutory provision. All that can reasonably be inferred from Congress’ decision to exempt connecting carriers from §§ 206-07 is that Congress did not want to subject connecting carriers to the automatic, across-the-board damages liability of common carriers. Whether there is to be a private right of action under any of the specific provisions seemingly has been left to judicial determination. Since I see nothing in the legislative history which is to the contrary2 and can perceive no regulatory objective or substantial value which will be interfered with if private damages actions were allowed under § 203 alone,3 I think the inferral of this damages remedy is consistent with the “evident legislative intent”. Because this remedy, in my view, is necessary to protect the primary legislative objectives and since there are not other considerations counseling against the creation of such a remedial right, see Cort v. Ash, supra at 78, 95 S.Ct. 2080, this is an appropriate case for the exercise of the very respectable judicial practice — evidenced by literally scores of cases — of implying a private right of action under a statute which does not expressly provide for one. I would reverse the judgment of the district court.

. The fact that Comtronics could have sought a cease and desist order from the FCC under § 205 does not alter the analysis. Because the FCC has limited resources and myriad of regulatory responsibilities, it is not likely that Comtronics could have secured instant relief. More significantly, it is quite possible that there will *709also be instances in which the likely financial advantage from the continuation of the violation will also exceed the maximum penalties for violating the cease and desist order.

. The history the majority relies upon is less than compelling. Although Congress demonstrated solicitude for the financially weaker connecting carriers, it made them subject to §§ 201-05, and there is no indication that Congress felt that connecting carriers should be given a carte blanche to violate the procedures for having their tariffs amended. Representative Rayburn’s statement during floor debate obviously recognizes the applicability of § 202(c) to connecting carriers. It also notes that such carriers are subject to §§ 201-05, but not to other provisions. But it is not addressed to the problem of what happens when such a carrier violates a key provision, like § 203, to which the carrier is subject.

. Lest there be any doubt that I would take seriously the Congressional solicitude for the financially weaker connecting carriers, I would be strongly disinclined to imply a damages action under § 201 of the Act, which proscribes “unjust and unreasonable practices”. Because any carrier practice can be so characterized, permitting such actions against connecting carriers could subject them to numerous lawsuits which would not arise from the carriers’ intentional, unlawful conduct. The defense of these lawsuits would place an enormous strain on the connecting carriers even in instances in which the carriers’ conduct was blameless, and for this reason my tentative feeling is that a damages remedy under § 201 would be inconsistent with the statutory scheme. In contrast, a connecting carrier can easily avoid subjecting itself to suit under § 203 simply by following the prescribed procedure.