Counties Fight AT&T, Dispute Phone Fees

Clark County Judge Ron Daniell thought the county’s phone bills were too high.

For years, Daniell, who is no longer the county judge, “kept trying to get AT&T to explain why the county’s phone bills were just excessively high,” said attorney Todd Turner of Arnold Batson Turner & Turner of Arkadelphia. “And he couldn’t get any explanation.”

So in 2017, Clark County sued AT&T Corp. and Southwestern Bell, which operates as AT&T Arkansas, in Clark County Circuit Court to get answers. The county challenged the routine fees that appeared on its phone bills and received class-action certification for other counties in Arkansas that used AT&T.

Clark County also wants a refund for the three fees it paid on its phone lines, which were listed on its bill as a 911 service fee, a special municipal charge and an Arkansas universal service fee. It argued that as a public entity, it was exempt from paying those three fees.

Turner also is representing the city of Gurdon in a lawsuit against AT&T over similar allegations. The city is seeking class-action status in that case, but a judge has yet to rule on that.

“Counties and cities need all the money they can get,” Turner said. “We shouldn’t be paying these three fees.”

AT&T disagrees with the allegations. “The allegations in the lawsuits are wrong, and we intend to fight them,” AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said in a statement to Arkansas Business. “We collect taxes and fees as required by law and pass them along to the appropriate taxing bodies.”

Turner told Arkansas Business that he didn’t know how much money in damages the case could bring. About 50 counties are members of the class action, including Pulaski County. “So if Pulaski County has 200 phone lines, then each one of those phone lines is going to have those three charges on it,” Turner said. The class period dates back to 2012.

After the lawsuit was filed, AT&T filed motions to force the county to arbitrate. But Clark County Circuit Court found that the county was not bound to arbitration and allowed the case to move forward in Circuit Court.

“We spent a little over a year … fighting arbitration, which we won,” Turner said. “So all during that [time], there was no discussion about what the fees were or anything else.”

AT&T said in its court filings that the Arkansas Universal Service Fee, also called the Arkansas High Cost Fund, was used to promote and assure the availability of universal services at prices that are affordable for comparable services and rates between rural and urban areas.

AT&T also said in its filing that the special municipal charge is intended to recover the franchise fees that cities charge phone companies to use city streets and rights of way.

Battle Over 911 Fees

Turner asked the judge to rule, even before a trial, that counties should not have been charged 911 fees. The Arkansas Public Safety Communications Act “clearly exempts counties from the fee,” Turner said in a filing.

But AT&T argues just the opposite.

Clark County, like other customers, had to pay the fees that fund the 911 public safety communication centers, AT&T said.

“County employees, like other persons, can pick up the phone and dial 911 in the event of an emergency, and hence the County should pay its fair share like other telephone customers to support 911 service,” according to AT&T’s pleading.

AT&T also asked for the judge to rule in its favor that the counties have to pay all three fees.

Circuit Court Judge Tom Cooper denied both motions last month. As of last week, the case hasn’t been set for trial.