Lafayette Consolidated Government on Monday filed pleadings in a Kansas City, Kan., federal court seeking dismissal of a suit filed against Lafayette and LUS Fiber by the National Cable Television Cooperative. Lafayette Consolidated Government on Monday filed pleadings in a Kansas City, Kan., federal court seeking dismissal of a suit filed against Lafayette and LUS Fiber by the National Cable Television Cooperative. The NCTC's suit seeks a judgement declaring its refusal to admit LUS into its cooperative neither discriminatory or in violation of federal trade laws - claims LCG made in an earlier complaint to the Federal Communications Commission.
Last week, the Lafayette City-Parish Council approved an ordinance that allowed LCG to enter into contracts with a pair of Kansas City attorneys to fight the NCTC's suit. LCG's response filed on Monday argues that the FCC has primary jurisdiction over the case and questions the propriety of a Louisiana city being suit in a court in Kansas when Lafayette has not "transacted business" in that state.
"As we have stated in our pleadings filed today, the Court should dismiss NCTC's complaint in deference to the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission, or alternatively suspend any further proceedings until the FCC has decided the case initiated by Lafayette's complaint," says City-Parish attorney Pat Ottinger in a press statement released late Monday afternoon.