City of Osceola v. Entergy Ark., Inc., No. 14-2274 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseThe City of Osceola purchases wholesale energy from Entergy Arkansas under an agreement filed with and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Osceola sued Entergy in Arkansas state court, seeking reimbursement for charges allegedly in violation of their agreement. Entergy removed the case to the federal district court which denied Osceola's motion to remand, granted summary judgment to the defendant energy providers, and dismissed the case. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, finding that FERC has primary jurisdiction to determine the appropriate treatment of the bandwidth payments under the parties' agreement.
Court Description: Murphy, Author, with Shepherd, Circuit Judge, and Harpool, District Judge] Civil case - Contracts. The case was properly removed to federal court as the contract plaintiff seeks to enforce is its Power Coordination, Interchange and Transmission Agreement with defendant, an agreement which had to filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and which FERC had approved; since plaintiff was seeking to enforce a tariff contained in the agreement approved by FERC, the suit arose under federal law and was properly removed; this claim was not barred by the filed rate doctrine as the suit does not challenge a filed rate over which FERC has exclusive jurisdiction; however, FERC does have primary jurisdiction to determine the appropriate treatment of the bandwidth payments at issue; based on the record and FERC's expertise in implementing and supervising bandwidth remedy, allowing FERC to exercise its primary jurisdiction would best ensure uniform treatment of bandwidth charges; the dismissal of the action is affirmed, but modified to be without prejudice.
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