Illinois Supreme Court deals legal blow to Sprint

The Illinois Supreme Court dealt another blow to Sprint Nextel in its long-standing legal battle with its affiliate iPCS, when it refused on Wednesday to grant Sprint's petition for leave to appeal a ruling by the Appellate Court of Illinois issued in March 2008.

The Appellate Court had unanimously, in turn, upheld a 2006 ruling by Circuit Court in Cook County, Ill., that said Sprint violated the terms of its Management Agreement with iPCS following Sprint's merger with Nextel, because Sprint had wanted to operate Nextel's iDEN network in territory where iPCS had exclusivity rights.

The Illinois Supreme Court issued a similar ruling at the end of September, and ruled then that Sprint would have to stop owning, operating, and managing the Nextel network in iPCS territory. Sprint had asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision, which was denied Wednesday. 

For more:
- see this release

Related Articles:
Illinois court won't hear Sprint's appeal in iPCS case
Judge refuses to dismiss iPCS lawsuit against Sprint