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3-2500-19047-2 MPUC Docket Nos. P-421/C-07-370 P421/C-07-371 |
STATE OF
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
FOR THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
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FIFTH PREHEARING ORDER |
This matter came on for a prehearing conference on April 20,
2009, before Administrative Law Judge Kathleen D. Sheehy at the Offices of the
Minnesota Public Utilities Commission,
Jason D. Topp, Qwest Corporation Law Department,
Dan Lipschultz, Moss & Barnett, 4800
Dennis D. Ahlers, Integra Telecom, Inc.,
Linda S. Jensen, Assistant Attorney General,
Ganesh Krishnan appeared for the staff of the Minnesota
Public Utilities Commission.
Based on the discussions during the prehearing conference, and all of the files and proceedings, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following:
Schedule
1. The following schedule is adopted:
2. The deadlines for submission of post-hearing briefs and the recommended decision will be set at the conclusion of the hearing.
Discovery
3. A party may serve requests for information on any other party. All requests for information shall be made in writing or by e-mail. Any request received after 4:30 p.m. on a business day, on a weekend day, or on a state holiday is considered received on the next business day.
4. The party responding to the request shall provide the requested information to the requesting party within ten business days of receipt of the request. A business day does not include weekend days or state holidays.
5. Responses to information requests shall be submitted on or before 4:30 p.m. on the due date.
6. In the event that requested information cannot be supplied within the required response time, the responding party shall notify the requesting party as soon as reasonably possible in advance of the deadline of the reasons for not being able to supply the information and to work out a schedule of compliance with the requesting party. All disputes concerning the reasonableness of discovery requests and the timing and sufficiency of responses shall be resolved by either of the Administrative Law Judges upon motion of a party. Such motion should be made by e-mail notice and a telephone conference among the Administrative Law Judge and affected parties.
7. Parties asked to provide Confidential or Trade Secret Information may require the requesting party to comply with the terms of a protective agreement and order.
Prefiled Testimony
8. Prefiled
testimony and exhibits may be in any reasonable format that is understandable,
logically organized, and capable of being cited by page and line number,
paragraph number, or similar identifier.
9. A
paper copy of prefiled testimony being offered for admission into the record at
the hearing shall be provided for use at the hearing. The offering party will identify the document
as having been eFiled (with the unique eFile identifying number of the document). The Administrative Law Judge will assign a
hearing exhibit number to the document at the time that it is offered for
admission at the hearing.
10. Corrections
to any prefiled testimony shall be identified and marked on the paper copy of
the exhibit. Those changes will be
eFiled as soon as practical after the hearing.
11. A
hearing exhibit list will be prepared that identifies each exhibit in the
hearing record, with its hearing exhibit number and unique eFile identifying
number. The eFiled documents constitute
the official record of the proceeding, along with any supplemental record data
that cannot be eFiled. Any such
supplemental record data will be identified by the ALJ as included in the
official record.
12. Prefiled
testimony that is not offered into the record, or stricken portions of prefiled
testimony that is offered, shall be considered withdrawn and no witness shall
be cross-examined concerning the withdrawn testimony.
13. Any new affirmative matter that is not
offered in reply to another party's direct case will not be allowed in rebuttal
or surrebuttal testimony and exhibits.
Witnesses
14. Subject to change by agreement of the parties or further order of the Administrative Law Judge, the order of testimony shall be: Qwest, Integra, the CLEC Coalition, and the Department. Questioning of the witnesses shall proceed in the same order, followed by Commission staff and the Administrative Law Judge. The parties shall attempt to agree on the order of presentation of issues and witnesses.
15. Witnesses will be allowed ten minutes in which to summarize their prefiled testimony. A witness may include new information in his or her summary only for good cause shown and with the prior approval of the Administrative Law Judge.
16. Except
for good cause shown, objections by any party relative to the qualifications of
a witness or the admissibility of any portion of a witness' prefiled testimony
shall be considered waived unless the objecting party states its objection by
motion made to the Administrative Law Judge, no later than two days prior to
the commencement of the hearing. Any
prefiled testimony that is not objected to shall be admitted during the
evidentiary hearing without the necessity of laying foundation for the
testimony.
Filing of Documents (Excluding Information Requests and Responses)
17. Original
documents shall be filed using the Commission's eFiling system where feasible,
in accordance with Minn. Stat. § 216.17, subd. 3, and the Commission’s
standards. In any instance where the
eFiling system cannot be used, the original document shall be filed by delivery
or mail with the Administrative Law Judge.
18. The
effective date of filing shall be the date the document is eFiled, mailed by
U.S. Mail, or delivered to the Administrative Law Judge. Parties using the eFiling system should
retain the unique document identifier as proof of filing through that
system. Proof of service to the service
list in this proceeding shall be filed with each document or within three
business days thereafter.
19. With
the exception of Trade Secret and other Nonpublic Data, copies of all documents
that are filed shall be served by e-mail according to the attached official service
list by 4:00 p.m., and a hard copy shall also be mailed or delivered that day
to the persons so indicated on the official service list. The list will be revised as necessary by the
Office of Administrative Hearings.
20. Hard
copies of trade secret and other nonpublic data shall be transmitted by U.S.
Mail or delivery to the parties who have signed Exhibit A to the Protective
Order. Such documents may be served on
the next business day following the filing of the public version.
21. After
the Administrative Law Judge's Report is issued, the parties shall file the
original of all documents with the Executive Secretary of the Commission in
accordance with the Commission’s standards.
22. Where Trade Secret or Nonpublic Data is
filed with the Administrative Law Judge, that filing shall be prepared and
marked in accordance with the Public Utilities Commission's September 1, 1999,
Revised Procedures for Handling Trade Secret and Privileged Data. The procedures are available from the
Commission website and may be viewed at www.puc.state.mn.us/docs/tradsecret.pdf. Access to nonpublic data shall be governed by
the Protective Order to be issued in this proceeding.
Dated: April 22, 2009
s/Kathleen
D. Sheehy
KATHLEEN
D. SHEEHY
Administrative
Law Judge