Verizon Fiber Optic Cable Across Texas Property Class Action

This Texas class action claims that Verizon Communications, Inc. has been trespassing onto private land in that state, installing or using “miles of fiber optic cable” for the purposes of its communications business—without any legal right to do so, without consent from the owners, and without compensation to them, the complaint alleges.

The Texas Property Class for this action is all persons who own land in Texas on or in which Verizon has unlawfully and without authorization installed or used, or announced plans for the unauthorized installation of, fiber-optic cable.

The complaint charges Verizon with “illegally and without authorization, installed or used miles of fiber-optic cable on the lands of Texas property owners. [Verizon] is using the fiber-optic cable for commercial-communications purposes, without legal right, without consent, and without compensation for that use and occupation.”

This use of others’ land, the complaint says, means Verizon “is trespassing onto the land of Plaintiff and thousands of other Texas property owners, and unjustly enriching itself by occupying, using, and profiting, off Plaintiff’s and others’ land without compensating them.”

The plaintiff in this case, Michelle Rushing, owns 575 acres of land located in Irion County, Texas. The land, the complaint says, is “underlying an informal, permissive access for the limited purpose of electrical-transmission or distribution lines.”

The complaint emphasizes that this access was permitted for that one purpose only and that Verizon has no rights over Rushing’s land. Even so, the complaint claims, sometime before January 1, 2022, Verizon installed its fiber-optic cable to run alongside the electrical lines on Rushing’s property. According to the complaint, Verizon did not tell Rushing it was installing the cable, did not negotiate an agreement for the use of the land, and did not compensate her for it.

“On information and belief,” the complaint alleges, Verizon “made the business decision to forego a time-consuming negotiation and compensation process to obtain the necessary easement rights, and instead deliberately undertook to disregard [Rushing’s] property rights and install or operate on [Rushing’s] land a feber-optic network for purposes other than those permitted by the Informal Access.”

The complaint alleges that Verizon acted with reckless disregard when it installed the cable and that it receives, or hopes to receive, revenue from the cable it has run through Rushing’s land. The complaint argues that Verizon should pay this revenue to Rushing for using her land without her consent.

The counts include trespass and unjust enrichment; the complaint asks for an injunction against Verizon’s use of the land unless it compensates owners, and for punitive damages from the company.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Trespass
Tags: Trespass, Unjust Enrichment