Today the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in the Sprint v. County of San Diego and Level 3 v. St. Louis cases.
For local governments and telecom carriers in the 9th Circuit, this means that telecom carriers who want to challenge a zoning decision will in most ever case have to show that the local ordinance, AS APPLIED, acts as a prohibition to the provision of a telecom service.
Under the old, now overruled standard, a telecom carrier needed only to show that a local ordinance could prevent a provider from providing a telecom service (the so-called ‘facial attack’).
Tom Bunton, Esq., of the County Counsel’s office in San Diego is a hero to local governments.
Jonathan
