Of Counsel Cheryl Leanza Quoted in Communications Litigation Today
Article Addresses Consumers’ Research’s Challenges to FCC’s Universal Service Fund
Best Best & Krieger LLP Of Counsel Cheryl Leanza was recently quoted in a Communications Litigation Today article regarding Consumers’ Research’s challenges to FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF), and how the contribution factors may be an attempt to force a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on the non-delegation doctrine. The article addresses that the group brought the exact same argument in multiple courts of appeals to forum shop and engineer a circuit split.
“It’s not uncommon for related, simultaneous cases to be filed in different circuits as litigants seek a venue that might be more favorable to them, but usually such cases are consolidated into a single court before proceeding,” said Leanza, who successfully represented the Prometheus Radio Project before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Consolidation hasn’t happened here partly because each appeal targets a different iteration of the regular FCC orders setting the USF’s contribution factor,” Leanza said. “Neither the FCC nor Consumers’ Research has sought to have the cases moved or consolidated,” which Leanza says is atypical. She noted the contribution factor orders are largely procedural, following a previously created process. Leanza notes, “In issuing the contribution factors, the agency didn’t ‘adopt a rule or change a policy.’”
Subscribers can read the article, “Consumers’ Research USF Challenges Seek to ‘Manufacture a Split’: Experts,” at Communications Litigation Today by Communications Daily.
