Charter Fighting Appeal in Battle Over Cable Use of Utility Easements
The Cable Act lets Charter Communications' Insight cable company use the perpetual easement across Indiana resident Stephen West's property to install and maintain a fiber line because a cable operator's use of the easement is inherently compatible with utility purposes,…
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Charter said in a docket 18-1906 appellee brief (in Pacer) filed Tuesday with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That easement "is the very kind of public utility easement that Congress had in mind" when enacting Section 621 to help deployment of cable services, Charter said. It said West is being used by plaintiff's counsel from different law firms as a test case "for sweeping class action litigation" on behalf of property owners seeking damages from communications providers for making cable networks that use easements. West's counsel didn't comment Wednesday. West originally sued Louisville Gas & Electric in 2016, claiming the utility's easement didn't authorize a fiber wire on the electric transmission tower straddling the easement, and later amended the complaint to add Charter. He's appealing Distinct Court dismissal of those Charter claims, while litigation against LG&E is ongoing.