The U.S. Dist. Court, St. Paul, last week denied all the motions ...

findings or a new trial. The court declined to amend any aspect of its order and concluded that a new trial was “not necessary… Whether calls come into contact with the PSTN… does not alter the court’s conclusion that Vonage’s services constitute information services.” The court also declined to alter its conclusion that state 911 regulations were preempted. (3) The Minn. Dept. of Commerce’s (MDOC) motion to intervene. The court concluded that MDOC’s motion was untimely. “Considering that the MDOC filed the complaint against Vonage with the MPUC, it was well aware of the contours and implications of this case,” Minn. Dist. Court Judge Michael Davis wrote in the court’s decision: “Vonage’s complaint and motion gave MDOC notice of Vonage’s intent to seek permanent relief, and thus its arguments to the contrary fail.” The court also concluded that MDOC didn’t have a ground for jurisdiction that was independent from the MPUC: “Although the MDOC has identified a distinction in terms of the statutory roles of the two agencies, the court does not consider that distinction sufficient to justify intervention.”