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REPORTED

IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

No. 154

September Term, 1998 _________________________________

INTERCOM SYSTEMS CORPORATION

v.

BELL ATLANTIC OF MARYLAND, INC. _________________________________

Sonner, Krauser, Smith, Marvin H.,
(Retired, specially assigned)

JJ. _________________________________

Opinion by Krauser, J. _________________________________

Filed: December 22, 2000

This is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, dismissing a complaint filed by

appellant, Intercom Systems Corporation, against appellee, Bell Atlantic of Maryland, Inc. ("Bell Atlantic"), for tortious

interference with contract or economic relations,1 negligence, and breach of contract. compelled by That this dismissal, Court's the circuit in court

declared,

was

holding

Bits "N"

Bytes v. C&P Telephone, 97 Md. App. 557 (1993), that the Public Service Commission Act ("Act"), now the Public Utility Companies Article (PUC)of the Maryland Code,2 provides an exclusive remedy for such claims before the Public Service Commission

("Commission" or "PSC"). case was appropriate and

The circuit court's reliance on that the result it reached, under that

decision, correct.

In its brief, appellant states that "Count 1" of its complaint is incorrectly titled "Interference with Contract Relations," when it should have read, "Interference with Economic Relations." This error does not defeat its claim, appellant asserts, because, regardless of how it is captioned, that count alleges the elements that constitute such a claim. To avoid confusion, however, we have combined the two designations and refer to that count in this opinion as "Interference with economic or contract relations."
2

1

Md. Code Ann., (1998), Pub. Util. Cos. Art.,

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