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Legal counsel says injunction halts Swift Fiber work as residents remain without service
Summary
DeSoto Parish legal counsel told jurors a preliminary injunction bars Swift Fiber from some construction after water-system damage; Swift still owes about $75,000, and jurors said restoring service hinges on the company fixing damages and meeting new permitting and bonding requirements.
DeSoto Parish legal counsel told the police jury that a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction are in place in a lawsuit by local water systems against Cable South Media, doing business as Swift Fiber, and that Swift has stipulated to the injunction following a Feb. 9 hearing. “That injunction remains in place at this point in time,” the counsel said, adding that Swift “still is owing the local water systems approximately $75,000.”
Jurors and a resident who identified themself as a customer described neighborhoods that still lack internet and pressed officials for a timeline to restore service. “My question of you is why are these people being deprived of internet service,” the resident said, describing families who travel to a library to do homework. Counsel said restoring service “a lot of that depends on Swift Fiber” paying for and repairing damage they allegedly caused.
Counsel and jurors also described a pattern in which Swift hired nonresident subcontractors whose work has damaged underground water lines and other utilities. To prevent future damage, officials said staff are drafting changes to permitting and bonding language and want pre-construction coordination between Swift and local water systems so locate requests and marking occur before subcontractors begin trenching. One juror said the parish would prefer delays to proceeding in a way that could “bankrupt the water district.”
Jurors framed the local dispute in a wider policy context: counsel said the work is part of a statewide broadband program backed by federal funding and that pending changes at the state 811 commission could create a stand-alone process for fiber-boring entities. He added that timing pressures tied to earlier grant rules contributed to rushed construction but that a previous one-year completion requirement has been removed.
No trial date or schedule for restoring service was announced; counsel said the outstanding damages and other claims will be decided at trial. Jurors said the parish is preparing stronger permit and bonding terms to limit future damage and to require contractors to coordinate with local utilities before digging.
