A Davidson County chancellor on Monday afternoon ruled that the lawsuit filed against EPB by the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association be dismissed on all counts.
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision – this project is an important economic development initiative and we are glad to be moving forward,” said Harold DePriest, EPB’s president and CEO.
“Our community has maintained an overwhelmingly positive response to the fiber initiative and we want to thank them for supporting us through this legal process. We hope that TCTA will not continue in its attempt to keep Chattanoogans from experiencing the benefits of this project by prolonging the lawsuit through frivolous and time-consuming appeals.”
“We are eager to get underway on our build-out of the Smart Grid, which will enable us to provide even more reliable power and to offset rising energy costs to every EPB customer,” said Mr. DePriest. “And soon, building upon the fiber network which enables the Smart Grid, we will begin offering our community the Internet, video and telephone choices and options they’ve told us that they want.”
EPB officials have said they hope to begin offering cable TV service by late this year.
The ruling was from Chancellor Ellen Lyle.
She said after further review of the case she determined that she did not have jurisdiction.
She also said the cable association did not have standing to bring the suit and that it had not exhausted all of its administrative appeals and thus the case was not "ripe" for filing.