AT&T Asks Ore. Court to Reconsider Summary Judgment in County’s Favor

AT&T is asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Mustafa Kasubhai for Oregon to reconsider and reverse his Oct. 25 opinion and order granting summary judgment for Lane County, Oregon (see 2310260038), and that he approve AT&T’s application that the county denied to build a 150-foot cell tower on a five-acre parcel of land near Oregon’s Pacific Coast, said AT&T’s motion Friday (docket 6:22-cv-01635). In dismissing AT&T’s case, the judge held that AT&T failed to exhaust its remedies under Oregon’s administrative land use process. Despite Lane County's final action to deny the tower application, Kasubhai ruled that AT&T was required to take yet another administrative step, and appeal that local decision to Oregon’s land use board of appeals before AT&T could present a federal claim under the Telecommunications Act. But the judge’s decision “was incorrect and should be reconsidered and reversed,” said AT&T’s motion. The “plain language” of the TCA, plus a “clear reading” of Oregon statutory law, “all dictate that Lane County’s decision was the required final action for a TCA claim,” it said. AT&T’s claims “are ripe for adjudication,” it said.