City of Gurdon, Arkansas v. At&t Corp.

── City of Gurdon, Arkansas v. At&t Corp. ── Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas Date: May 20, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 346 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISIONS III & IV No. CV-24-32 CITY OF GURDON, ARKANSAS, EX REL. LARRY THOMERSON, IN HIS Opinion Delivered May 20, 2026 OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MAYOR OF APPEAL FROM THE CLARK COUNTY GURDON, ARKANSAS, INDIVIDUALLY CIRCUIT COURT AND ON BEHALF OF A CLASS OF [NO. 10CV-18-95] SIMILARLY SITUATED PARTIES HONORABLE GARY M. ARNOLD, APPELLANT JUDGE V. AT&T CORP. AND SOUTHWESTERN BELL D/B/A AT&T ARKANSAS APPELLEES AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED AND REMANDED IN PART MIKE MURPHY, Judge This appeal arises from a class-action lawsuit filed by the city of Gurdon against AT&T Corp. and Southwestern Bell d/b/a AT&T Arkansas (collectively “AT&T”), which alleged that AT&T unlawfully charged Gurdon and other Arkansas cities three fees for the cities’ use of AT&T’s telephone services. The circuit court granted AT&T’s motion for summary judgment and denied Gurdon’s motion for class certification as moot. Gurdon appeals the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of AT&T. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part. I. Background AT&T provided telephone services to the city of Gurdon from 2011 to 2017. As part of providing those services, AT&T assessed 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 was 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 collected 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 made to the Arkansas High Cost Fund (“AHCF”). Ark. Code Ann. § 23-17-404(2)(B) (Repl. 2015). Gurdon filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T alleging that the imposition of these three fees against the city was unlawful and thereafter filed a motion for class certification.1 1 Gurdon’s motion defined the proposed class as: “All Arkansas cities 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.” 2  In the operative complaint, filed May 31, 2018, Gurdon requested relief pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-111-101, et seq., seeking a declaratory judgment that: (1) Gurdon and the putative class members are not subject to 911 fees under the provisions of APSCA, Ark. Code Ann. § 12-10-300, et seq; (2) Gurdon and the putative class members are not subject to the payment of a Special Municipal Charge; (3) AT&T has no basis to collect from Gurdon and the putative class members an Arkansas Universal Service Fee; (4) AT&T improperly charged, billed, and collected public funds from Gurdon and from the putative class members; (5) Such improper and unlawful fees include, but are not limited to, the foll