Crown Castle Settles Its Long-Running Telecom Dispute With Ocean City, Md.

Crown Castle and Ocean City, Maryland, agreed to terms to settle their dispute in its entirety, with those terms incorporated and memorialized in a written agreement that’s now “fully executed,” said their joint notice of settlement Tuesday (docket 1:21-cv-01812) in U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore. The terms require “certain agreed steps to be accomplished” before dismissal of the case occurs with prejudice, said the notice. On that basis, the parties request that the case be stayed for 90 days, or until the parties file a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, if that occurs earlier, it said. Crown Castle sued in July 2021 to reverse what it called the city’s unlawful denial of its application to install telecom services equipment in the public rights of way on three new street light poles. The city countersued in December 2021, alleging Crown Castle breached the requirements of a 2017 rights of use agreement with the municipality.