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May 01, 2009

Recovery of Charges Over 2 Years

Are carriers seeking to recover charges for services not previously billed or collected? Revenue assurance teams are actively looking for unbilled and uncollected costs in an effort to boost revenue, cash, and profit. In several cases, we have seen carriers seek to recover money beyond the statute of limitations. If you do not already have a superseding agreement (I.e. an Interconnection Agreement with a stake agreement clause), then the carrier may only collect up to 24 months per the Communications of 1934.

Following is a link to the complete act, as well as an excerpt from section 415 which contains the statute of limitations:

http://www.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf

Communications Act of 1934

SEC. 415. [47 U.S.C. 415] LIMITATIONS AS TO ACTIONS.

(a) All actions at law by carriers for recovery of their lawful charges, or any
part thereof, shall be begun, within two years from the time the cause of action
accrues, and not after.

(b) All complaints against carriers for the recovery of damages not based
on overcharges shall be filed with the Commission within two years from the time
the cause of action accrues, and not after, subject to subsection (d) of this section.

(c) For recovery of overcharges action at law shall be begun or complaint
filed with the Commission against carriers within two years from the time the
cause of action accrues, and not after, subject to subsection (d) of this section,
except that if claim for the overcharge has been presented in writing to the carrier
within the two-year period of limitation said period shall be extended to include
two years from the time notice in writing is given by the carrier to the claimant of
disallowance of the claim, or any part or parts thereof, specified in the notice.

(d) If on or before expiration of the period of limitation in subsection (b) or
(c) a carrier begins action under subsection (a) for recovery of lawful charges in
respect of the same service, or, without beginning action, collects charges in
respect of that service, said period of limitation shall be extended to include ninety
days from the time such action is begun or such charges are collected by the
carrier.

(e) The cause of action in respect of the transmission of a message shall,
for the purposes of this section, be deemed to accrue upon delivery or tender of
delivery thereof by the carrier, and not after.

(f) A petition for the enforcement of an order of the Commission for the
payment of money shall be filed in the district court or the State court within one
year from the date of the order, and not after.

(g) The term ''overcharges'' as used in this section shall be deemed to mean
charges for services in excess of those applicable thereto under the schedules of
charges lawfully on file with the Commission.

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