The Coffee and Franklin County Communications Districts and Emergency Communication Districts filed suit recently in United States Eastern District Court in Chattanooga against Windstream Holdings Inc., Windstream Corp., Windstream Communications Inc. and Windstream Norlight Inc. of Little Rock, Ark. to recover $75,000 plus interest by each communication district. The suit is filed under the Tennessee False Claims Act.
The communication districts allege in their suit that the company has not been properly paying them for phone lines that the company controls. By law each phone user pays a surcharge for 911 service and that money is supposed to go to the communication districts.
The suit alleges that the Coffee County Emergency Communications District has levied a monthly 911 charge of 55 cents for each residential phone line and $1.75 for each business line. While the Franklin County Communication District has a fee of 65 cents for residential lines and $2 for business lines and they depend on those funds being collected by the company and paid to the districts by the company.
The suit alleges that the company supplies caller identification per each phone line that is in use in the respected counties and is supposed to report the number of lines to the communication districts. But they allege that the company has not been properly providing the proper amount of funds to the communication districts.
The suit also alleges several other issues and the lawsuit and this story only presents one side of the legal matter. (Thanks to the Tullahoma News)
911 Systems File Lawsuits
