At&T Communications Southwest v. Public Utilities Commission Texas

Appellant AT & T Communications of the Southwest, Inc., (AT & T), and others, perfected administrative appeals to the district court of Travis County from orders of the Public Utility Commission in docket nos. 5113 and 5220. In docket no. 5113, the Commission established and applied a system of long distance telephone ""access charges,"" while docket no. 5220 concerned Southwestern Bell's application for a rate increase. Appellees Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. (SWB), and others, intervened in the administrative appeals pending in district court. The district court consolidated the administrative appeals into two causes and, upon hearing, rendered judgment in each cause sustaining the respective agency order. Appellants' separate appeals were submitted to this Court consecutively. Because the appeals concern common legal issues, this opinion disposes of both. This Court will reverse the district court's judgments. By one of their principal points of error, AT & T and the other appellants1 complain that the district court erred in sustaining the agency orders which imposed access charges on them but not on SWB and other similarly situated telephone companies, even though SWB and the others use the same telephone exchange facilities for the same purposes as appellants.