Circuit Watcher

07-2212, 07-2430, 07-2529 Airadigm Commc’ns, Inc. v. FCC (In Re Airadigm Commc’ns, Inc.)
Before FLAUM, KANNE, ROVNER, Circuit Judges.
FLAUM, Circuit Judge. Debtor-appellant, Airadigm Communications, Inc. is a cellular-service provider. In 1996, it successfully bid for fifteen personal communications services (“PCS”) licenses as part of an FCC auction and opted to pay off the licenses under an installment plan set up by the FCC. For Airadigm, however, the airwaves were too turbulent, and by 1999 it had filed for chapter-11 bankruptcy. Almost immediately, the FCC cancelled Airadigm’s PCS licenses and filed a proof of claim in bankruptcy court for the remaining amounts owed under the installment plan. The ensuing reorganization proceeded under the assumption that the licenses were gone, having been validly cancelled. And although the ultimate reorganization plan set out several contingencies in the event the FCC reinstated the licenses—which it never did—it provided little else regarding the licenses’ status after the reorganization. In 2003, the Supreme Court decided NextWave Personal Communications, Inc. v. FCC, 537 U.S. 293 (2003), and held that the FCC could not cancel a debtor’s PCS licenses just because it had filed for bankruptcy. The FCC conceded a few months later that it had been wrong to terminate Airadigm’s licenses and reinstated them as though they had never been cancelled. … Airadigm Commc’ns, Inc. v. FCC (In Re Airadigm Commc’ns, Inc.).