A federal court in Fla. dismissed a suit by Embarq customers accu...
A federal court in Fla. dismissed a suit by Embarq customers accusing the telco of deceptive advertising of its “vacation rate” service. The U.S. Dist. Court, Tallahassee, said the plaintiffs’ claims are invalid under the filed rate doctrine. The…
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plaintiffs signed up for the Embarq service, which suspends residential dial tone up to 6 months at 1/2 the regular local service rate. The plaintiffs (Case 4:06- CV-445-SPM) sued because Embarq added a $6.50 monthly line- item “interstate access surcharge.” The court said Embarg’s tariff for the vacation service specifically allows addition of taxes, fees and surcharges to the service rate. It said the $6.50 surcharge was approved by the FCC, making it lawful. The court said the filed rate doctrine says customers can’t dispute accurate application of a tariffed rate for a service they receive. It said plaintiffs wanted the court to excuse them from paying a lawful filed rate for service, something the court can’t do under the filed rate doctrine. The court said that since Embarq charged the $6.50 in conformance with its tariffs it “cannot be held liable under any theory proposed by the plaintiffs.”