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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Frontier files suit over West Virginia's House Bill 3093

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) – The West Virginia arm of Frontier Communications has filed a suit against the state's governor and other officials regarding House Bill 3093, which pertains to access to utility poles.

Frontier West Virginia Inc. and Citizens Telecommunications Co. of West Virginia, doing business as Frontier Communications of West Virginia, filed a complaint on July 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against Gov. James C. Justice II, Chairman Michael A. Alber, solely in his official capacity as chairman and commissioner of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia; et al. citing Federal Communications Commission regulations and the Fifth and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

According to the complaint, a new state law in West Virginia that became effective on July 7 allows third parties to perform work on the plaintiff's network without notice to the plaintiff. The plaintiff alleges that these third parties could relocate or alter facilities of an existing attacher on poles owned by the plaintiff. 

The plaintiff is seeking declaratory and permanent injunctive relief to restrain the defendants from enforcing the law.

The plaintiff seeks declare that the West Virginia House Bill 3093 conflicts with the federal law and any further relief this court grants. It is represented by Thomas R. Goodwin and W. Jeffrey Vollmer of Goodwin & Goodwin LLP in Charleston, West Virginia.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:17-cv-03560

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