AT&T Sues Miss. County for Tower Relocation Costs Resulting From Road Project
Rankin County, Mississippi, which reached a compromise with Verizon last week over its denial of the carrier’s application to build and operate a cell tower (see 2307130004, is being sued by AT&T for refusing its payment demands for relocating a cell tower to accommodate a county project, said a Monday complaint (docket 3:23-cv-00457) in U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi in Jackson.
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AT&T bought a series of easements from private property owners in the county in 1991 and 1992 to construct, install and maintain communications facilities in the area of Andrew Chapel Road, said the complaint. The company installed, maintained and upgraded the facilities, “incurring substantial financial investment to do so,” it said.
Since 2008, the county had been planning a road-widening project on that road, and it informed AT&T in December 2019 that the company would have to relocate the facilities from the easements into the public right-of-way to accommodate the project, the complaint said. AT&T’s estimate for relocation expenses was $210,128. The county would be responsible for $163,900, reflecting the cost of moving the facilities located in the easements; AT&T would be responsible for $46,228 for the costs of moving facilities located in the public right-of-way, it said.
The county issued a general obligation bond to fund the road project, but despite knowing about AT&T’s easements and facilities “and despite having 12 years to plan, the County’s bond process did not include any funds for and made no provision to compensate AT&T for the taking of its Easements and Facilities that the County intended,” it said. An Oct. 20, 2020, letter from Rankin County board attorney Craig Slay to AT&T said all the company’s permits had been placed “in suspense” due to the approximately $210,000 in relocation costs associated with the road project, calling it “totally unacceptable.” Rankin County taxpayers “should not bear any of this burden,” the letter said, saying “there are no funds to pay this demand.”
The county also refused to issue AT&T nine permits necessary to construct its facilities and provide service, “expressly because AT&T sought reimbursement for its relocation costs,” said the complaint. AT&T then filed a mandamus petition in Mississippi state court to require the county to comply with “its duty to issue AT&T’s permits.” The permit issue was subsequently resolved, the permits issued and the state court litigation dismissed, it said. The parties agreed to hold AT&T’s claims for payment of relocation expenses “in abeyance to be pursued at a later time if needed.”
AT&T performed the relocation work required by the county along Andrew Chapel Road; the final cost of relocation from the easements was $165,673, it said. The county refused AT&T’s demands for its costs incurred in relocating its facilities from the easements. The carrier is suing Rankin County for violating the takings clauses of the Fifth Amendment and the Mississippi constitution and the contract clause of both constitutions. It seeks relief and damages of $165,673, plus attorney’s fees. The Rankin County board didn’t comment.