Cumberland County has filed suit against Spirit Broadband Cable Company and its operator Vincent King.  The suit, filed last week in Cumberland County Circuit Court, claims that despite numerous requests by the County, Spirit has failed to pay franchise fees owed the County since 2008 even though Spirit has been collecting the fees from its subscribers.   According to the suit, Spirit made a payment in 2010 in the amount of $37,335.51 which the County applied to past due fees owed for the year 2008.  The County wants the past due franchise fees from 2008 till now amounting to five-percent of the cable company’s annual gross revenue for each year plus interest that has accrued on those past due fees.  In addition, the County is asking for $1,000,000 in punitive damages from Spirit.

Even though the County is claiming breach of contract by Spirit, there may not have been a contract to breach. Spirit Broadband has been operating the cable company since 2007.  However, Spirits franchise agreement expired in 2012 and hasn’t been renewed. Since then, Spirit has been operating as ‘holdover tenants’ – with the County simply ‘allowing’ the company to continue to operate.  In case the court was to decide there has not been an enforceable contract between the two parties, the County maintains equity and law requires Spirit still should have to pay five-percent of gross annual revenue to the County since the franchise fees collected by Spirit over the years belongs to the County.

The suit also alleges Spirit has not done repairs to its system since the ice-storm of 2015 and many subscribers still do not have service restored. The County is asking for a jury trial.

One thing not mentioned in the law suit is an ‘or else’ clause.  If Spirit does not settle with the County or even if the County gets a judgment but still no money, what happens next?  The County could demand Spirit cease operations in the county.  If that were to happen, current Spirit subscribers would be forced to seek an alternative service such as satellite dish or a land-line phone company if another cable company doesn’t take over the existing system.