North Country, Sprint Clash Over Whether FCC Still Has Jurisdiction in 2014 Complaint

North County Communications (NCC) and Sprint disagree whether the FCC has jurisdiction to adjudicate Sprint's 2014 complaint about wrongful interstate access charges. In a joint status report posted Friday in docket 14-223 on the Enforcement Bureau complaint and parallel proceedings in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Sprint said the U.S. District Court final judgment in September should have ended the FCC proceeding. But it said if the agency doesn't dismiss the formal complaint, it should grant Sprint's first three counts but dismiss four and five as moot, once it determines NCC didn't provide service to Sprint. NCC, meanwhile, said the FCC should stay the case for now "instead of requiring the parties and the Commission to spend valuable time and other resources prosecuting and defending the referral issues." U.S. District Court in San Diego ruled in September against NCC and its claim of contract breach by Sprint, saying it was NCC that had breached the agreement; the court also said Sprint's contract damages fell outside the two-year statute of limitations. The joint filing said NCC had filed a notice of appeal with the 9th Circuit Oct. 28, with Sprint filing a cross appeal Nov. 9. NCC plans to argue the District Court was wrong in deciding it wasn't a telecom carrier when delivering calls to HFT, a chat-line service; Sprint said its appeal would argue its breach of contract damages weren't barred by statute of limitations. Oral argument hasn't been scheduled, the joint status report said.