Arsberry v. Illinois

The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

Posner, Circuit Judge. This is a suit by Illinois prison and jail inmates, inmates’ family members (and other intimates of the inmates), and a public- interest law firm that specializes in the defense of inmates on death row in Illinois. Grounded in 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, the Sherman Act, and Illinois state law, the suit attacks the practice by which each prison and jail grant one phone company the exclusive right to provide telephone service to the inmates in return for 50 percent of the revenues generated by the service. The suit claims that the rates for the service, which are collect only and are contained in tariffs filed by the phone companies with the Federal Communications Commission and the Illinois Commerce Commission, are exorbitant, being far higher than required to cover the costs involved in providing phone service to inmates. The plaintiffs seek damages and injunctive relief against the phone companies and the state agencies and officials responsible for the arrangements with the companies. The district court dismissed the suit as beyond its jurisdiction by reason of the filed-rate and primary- jurisdiction doctrines.