We had a similar situation with a country club here. For whatever reason, Bell Telephone peppered the entire property with pedestals and 12 and 25 pair PIC. All the cables terminated in a "hut" off property in a right of way.
The management had purchased a key system from a "snake oil salesman" who was also a member. It was a Toshiba and this guy's company just installed the telephone sets in all the outbuildings using Bell's cables.
This story could be pages and pages, however, for brevity's sake, I'll get to the middle. Bell's legal beagles sent the country club a letter stating that the Bell Telephone equipment was illegally opened and connections made and there would be an immediate disconnect of all Bell Telephone services as well as a hefty "usage" bill. Further, Bell Telephone would seek punitive damages as well.
This case was watched, very closely, by all the "interconnects" at the time. The case went to court and the cocky owner of the interconnect decided he didn't need representation and acted as his own counsel.
The judge agreed with Bell Telephone and the country club ended up paying $117,500 to Bell Telephone.
Fast forward 20 years and the pedestals were still there and the country club wanted to make some changes, build some buildings, etc. and those cables and pedestals were in the way. We were called and, knowing the history, I immediately called our attorney and the Public Utility Commission. After several phone calls and legal papers, Verizon relinquished all ownership of the cables and pedestals, even though there were working pairs in them.
You see, since Bell Telephone did what they did earlier, they were on the hook for relocation and maintenance of the equipment. Verizon took the easy way out and abandoned all of it.
Rcaman
