2. Discussion
As indicated by the foregoing summary of the parties' positions, the issues raised by the pleadings here are complex. Before the assigned ALJ was able to address them, however, he was required to work on other, more urgent matters.
The first of these matters was Case (C.) 06-03-013, Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a ATT of California v. Fones4All Corporation. In Decision (D.) 07-07-013, the Commission concluded that Fones4All Corporation (Fones4All) had overbilled Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T of California (AT&T) for the carriage of intraLATA traffic, because Fones4All had sent bills based on estimated traffic rather than actual traffic volumes. As a result of the overbillings, D.07-07-013 required Fones4All to reimburse AT&T $2,627,236.67 plus interest.4
When Fones4All failed to pay any of the sum due, AT&T filed a motion on January 25, 2008, seeking to set aside disbursements that would otherwise be owed to Fones4All from the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service and directing, instead, that these payments be made to AT&T.5 On March 7, 2008, AT&T also filed a motion for an order allowing expedited discovery regarding potential alter egos of Fones4All, and setting an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the Commission should pierce the corporate veil of Fones4All and hold the persons and entities constituting alter egos liable for the amounts owed to AT&T, which had grown to $6.5 million. On April 15, 2008, Commissioner Chong granted this motion and required Fones4All to produce its financial records for AT&T within seven days. An evidentiary hearing was also set for May 2, 2008.
However, in late April, before the hearing could be held, the ALJ assigned to C.06-03-013 retired and the matter was reassigned to ALJ McKenzie. From late April until early August 2008, ALJ McKenzie held multiple discovery status conferences and resolved numerous discovery disputes. Hearings were continued several times and ultimately cancelled due to the filing by Fones4All of a voluntary bankruptcy petition pursuant to Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Act. In addition, the ALJ also worked to prepare the presiding officer's decision in C.07-03-026, California Building Industry Association v. Southern California Edison Company, which was issued on June 30, 2008. He also worked to prepare D.08-09-044, which approved an interim settlement in Application (A.) 07-04-022.
The ALJ spent the rest of the Fall handling an appeal from a citation issued pursuant to Resolution E-4017 and preparing decisions in three applications. The first was an application by Southern California Edison Company to lease land adjacent to its Walnut Substation in the City of Industry (A.08-06-027). The other two were applications by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) seeking approval of settlements with qualifying facilities (QFs) that had provided power to PG&E pursuant to Standard Offer 2 (SO2) contracts. (A.08-07-028; A.08-07-029.)
Under all the circumstances here, an extension of time to resolve C.08-02-013 is appropriate. Since both parties recognize that an amended complaint is a possibility, and Verizon has argued that the dispute resolution procedures in the ICA should be invoked if an amended complaint is allowed, we believe that a one-year extension of time, until February 15, 2010, should be granted.
4 Rehearing of D.07-07-013 was denied and the decision was modified (although not with respect to the amount due) in D.08-04-043.
5 This motion was denied in D.08-04-020, based on the Commission's reading of Pub. Util. Code § 277.
