Exigent Rate Case to Get a Second Look

The U.S. Court of Appeals has remanded the exigent rate case to the Postal Regulatory Commission for a second look.

Here's the background:

On September 30, 2010, the Postal Regulatory Commission denied the Postal Service’s exigent rate case price request.

The Postal Service then filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The petition sought a review of the PRC’s interpretation of the law that governs how prices can be set under extraordinary and exceptional circumstances. The Postal Service’s position was that the PRC misread the statute and applied an incorrect standard in evaluating the request for an exigent price increase. The Postal Service asked the Court of Appeals to confirm its right to pursue the exigent price increase as originally requested of the PRC.

The “incorrect standard" argument from the Postal Service refers to when the PRC misinterpreted language and imposed at least three different requirements on the Postal Service to obtain the exigent price adjustment, none of which were written in the statute.