A whistleblower case accusing telecom giants of shorting emergency funding just collapsed, according to the Times Union. A New York appeals court ruled companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Frontier Communications didn’t commit fraud in how they handled 911 fees.
Judges said the companies’ reporting errors didn’t materially affect what local governments received. They also found the law around “access lines” unclear, making the companies’ interpretation reasonable.
The lawsuit claimed municipalities lost millions yearly due to undercounted phone lines and misleading reports. But the court ruled there’s no proof the companies knowingly broke the law or deprived counties of funds.
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