Clark County, Ark. v. At&t Corp.

── Clark County, Ark. v. At&t Corp. ── Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas Date: May 20, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 348 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISIONS III & IV No. CV-24-54 CLARK COUNTY, ARKANSAS, EX REL. TROY TUCKER, IN HIS OFFICIAL Opinion Delivered May 20, 2026 CAPACITY AS COUNTY JUDGE OF APPEAL FROM THE CLARK COUNTY CLARK COUNTY, ARKANSAS, CIRCUIT COURT INDIVIDUALLY AND O/B/O A CLASS [NO. 10CV-17-28] OF SIMILARLY SITUATED PARTIES HONORABLE GARY M. ARNOLD, APPELLANT JUDGE V. AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED AND REMANDED IN PART AT&T CORP. AND SOUTHWESTERN BELL D/B/A AT&T ARKANSAS APPELLEES MIKE MURPHY, Judge This appeal arises from a class-action lawsuit filed by Clark County against AT&T Corp. and Southwestern Bell d/b/a AT&T Arkansas (collectively, “AT&T”), which alleged that AT&T unlawfully charged Clark County and other Arkansas counties three fees for the counties’ use of AT&T’s telephone services. The circuit court certified a class and, following a bench trial, entered judgment in favor of AT&T on all claims. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.  I. Background AT&T provides telephone services to Clark County. As part of providing these services, AT&T assesses a 911 fee, a Special Municipal Charge, and an Arkansas Universal Service Fee. The 911 fee is an emergency telephone service charge that AT&T is required, under the Arkansas Public Safety Communications Act (“APSCA”), to bill and collect from its “service users” and remit to the government. Ark. Code Ann. § 12-10-318(f)(4) (Repl. 2016). The Special Municipal Charge is a charge that AT&T collects from “its customers residing in each municipality” to recover the amount of the franchise fee assessed by the municipality on AT&T for authorization to use the municipal streets and rights-of-way to deploy AT&T’s facilities. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-200-101(b)(2) (Supp. 2025). The Arkansas Universal Service Fee is a surcharge collected by AT&T to recover mandatory payments that AT&T must make to the Arkansas High Cost Fund (“AHCF”). Ark. Code Ann. § 23-17- 404(2)(B) (Repl. 2015). Clark County filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T alleging that the imposition of these three fees against the county was unlawful. The circuit court thereafter certified the following class: All Arkansas counties, or their agencies or departments, which have been charged or have paid Defendant’s 911, or Arkansas Universal Service or special municipal charge fees or related charges from the five years immediately prior to the filing of this lawsuit up through the date of the entry of judgment in this case. In the operative complaint, filed May 31, 2018, Clark County requested relief pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-111-101 et seq., seeking a declaratory judgment that: 2  (1) Clark County and the class members are not subject to 911 fees under the provisions of APSCA, Ark. Code Ann. § 12-10-300, et seq.; (2) Clark County and the class members are not subject to payment of a Special Municipal Charge; (3) AT&T has no basis to collect from Clark County and the class members an Arkansas Universal Service Fee; (4) AT&T improperly charged, billed, and collected public funds from Clark County and from the class members; (5) Such improper and unlawful fees include, but are not limited to, the foll