Split 8th Circuit Panel Affirms Lower Court Ruling for Qwest Against Free Conferencing
Federal appellate court judges sided with CenturyLink's Qwest Communications in ruling Free Conferencing (FC) intentionally interfered with Qwest's tariff contract with local carrier Tekstar. An 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel Tuesday affirmed 2-1 a district court decision that…
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found FC liable and awarded Qwest almost $1 million in damages plus attorneys' fees. When Tekstar agreed in 2008 to pay FC a per-minute fee for hosting conference calls on its exchange, "FC knew that Qwest was refusing to pay Tekstar for its free conferencing traffic," which Qwest considered invalid under a tariff, said Judge Jane Kelly's majority opinion in Qwest v. Free Conferencing, No. 17-2412. Suspecting Tekstar had an impermissible agreement with FC (and others) for conferencing services, Qwest implemented a new least-cost-routing protocol under which it continued to transmit some of Tekstar's free-conferencing traffic (including FC's) on its own network but refused to pay for it, she wrote. After the FCC in 2009 found free-conferencing companies weren't "end users," she said, Qwest sued several local carriers and free-conferencing companies, including FC under Minnesota law "for tortiously interfering with its contract (tariff) with Tekstar." The district court ruled FC interfered by inducing Tekstar to breach the tariff and bill Qwest for impermissible access charges. On appeal, the 8th Circuit panel majority disagreed with FC arguments, found the district court didn't err in its findings and ruled there was no basis for reversal. Dissenting Judge Bobby Shepherd found Free Conferencing didn't induce a breach: "Tekstar willingly participated in the breach, even preparing the contract." FC didn't comment.