Federal appeals court upheld state of Ill. practice of letting ea...
Federal appeals court upheld state of Ill. practice of letting each state prison select one phone company to provide exclusive service. Suit by prison inmates and their families charged that result was exorbitant rates because exclusive provider jacked up…
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rates and shared proceeds with prison. Seventh U.S. Appeals Court, Chicago, upheld lower court ruling but for different reasons. Lower court had dismissed case, saying it didn’t have jurisdiction because issues such as filed-rate doctrine came into play. Filed rate doctrine forbids court from revising tariffs filed by utilities and common carriers. Appeals court disagreed on using jurisdictional grounds but affirmed ruling on merits. In decision issued Mon., court said plaintiffs’ complaint really was that state had acted as monopoly “exercising… an iron control over access to the inmate market” and requiring inmates to pay higher than competitive price. However, court decided: “States and other public agencies do not violate the antitrust laws by charging fees or taxes that exploit the monopoly of force that is the definition of government” (Case number 00-1777).