Bellsouth Tele Inc v. SE Tele Inc
Eastern District of Kentucky at Frankfort
Federal Communication Commission / regulatory law
06a0322p.06 8/28/2006
RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. The principal question in this appeal is whether the Public Service Commission of Kentucky (the PSC) correctly applied a superseded Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation on the ground that application of the current regulation to a pending case would be impermissibly retroactive. This issue arises in the context of Southeast Telephone, Inc.’s attempt to modify the terms of its contract with BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. Underlying the dispute is a complex statutory and regulatory scheme, as well as important principles of retroactivity analysis. The district court agreed that applying the current FCC rule would be impermissibly retroactive, and thus upheld the administrative ruling. For the reasons set forth below, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND the
case with instructions to vacate the order of the PSC.
