Outlawnet wins court order

Outlawnet won a temporary restraining order last week against Verado, the company that provides Outlawnet with its connection to the internet.

Outlawnet is the local Internet service provider affiliated with Sisters Schools.

Verado, of Greenwood Village, Colorado, apparently attempted to knock Outlawnet off the Internet without any notice. Under law, a 30-day written notice is required.

In fact, Verado had been telling Outlawnet representatives for several months that no cancellation was anticipated.

"In the middle of January, a competitor (of Verado, then known as Firstworld) called and said they understood we were going to lose support from Firstworld," said Outlawnet owner Jon Renner.

"I called Firstworld and they assured me they were going to take care of us and only dial-up accounts in Portland (were going to be affected by planned cuts)," Renner said.

The same thing happened in February, according to Renner, when another competitor of Verado called, this time claiming to have an internal memo from Verado that Outlawnet was on a "kill list."

"Again I called (Verado) and again they assured me that this affected other customers, and not us, because we had a dedicated T-1 line," Renner said.

Shortly after that, Outlawnet had a block of their Internet addresses reassigned by Verado without notification. This caused a widespread "outage" for Outlawnet customers.

Then, on Friday, March 16, phone company workers came to the Outlawnet office at Sisters High School to cut off the Internet T-1 line. Renner intervened, but half of Outlawnet's connection had already been severed by Verado at the other end, Renner said.

This effectively cut Outlawnet off from the world starting Friday, March 16.

Over that weekend, Renner retained attorney Glenn Brown of Sisters.

Verado at first claimed that reconnecting Outlawnet would cost $300,000. Verado also said that Outlawnet had been given the required 30 days written notice of termination of service.

On Tuesday morning, Outlawnet asked a court in Portland to order Firstworld (Verado) to restore Outlawnet's service until the termination schedule could be sorted out.

In court, lawyers for Verado admitted that no written notice had been given, according to Brown. In court, the company also admitted that all that needed to be done to restore service was the equivalent of throwing a switch.

The judge issued the restraining order, and Outlawnet's service was restored on Tuesday, March 20, although there have been occasional problems since, according to Outlawnet representatives.

A second hearing is scheduled for later this week in Portland to determine exactly how long Verado must continue to provide service.

Outlawnet needs until at least April 18, 2001, when its replacement provider is scheduled to be up and running.

Verado lawyers are now arguing that a legally sufficient notice of termination was given effectively when the Qwest workers came to sever the T-1 line and that under their agreement, service would be terminated 30 days later on April 15.

Verado has offered a settlement, but Outlawnet has rejected the settlement as insufficient to reimburse Outlawnet for costs it has incurred as a result of Verado's attempted termination without notice.

Negotiations are continuing, with Verado taking a hard line. Brown believes Verado lawyers know that their legal footing is "very weak," but think that Outlawnet would be so badly damaged that the small company will be tempted to settle on unfavorable terms to avoid the risk of another outage.

Brown is optimistic that if a settlement is not reached before the next hearing on Friday, the court will again side with Outlawnet and order Verado not to terminate Outlawnet's service prior to April 18, 2001.

Heather Bennet of Verado, who handled the Outlawnet matter, told this newspaper, "I will not answer any questions." She directed inquiries to Kellee Johnson, Director of Corporate Communications, who did not return phone calls by press time.

According to their web site, Verado investors include energy giant Enron Corporation, Microsoft Corp. and Lucent Technologies.

The Board of Directors includes Donald Sturm, former vice chairman of construction giant Peter Kiewit Sons, James Sptizenberger, also formerly of Kiewit, Thomas Barrack, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Colony Capital and Colony Advisors, and John Donoghue, former Senior VP with MCI Worldcom.

Outlawnet is owned by Jon Renner of Sisters, Oregon.