5. Other Issues
During the evidentiary hearings on December 17, 2008, Harbor City Estates offered the testimony of the Vice President of Park Utilities, Inc. (Park Utilities), Gary Mowrey. Park Utilities was contracted to perform quarterly patrol inspections of the System.54 Mowrey was a substitute witness for Park Utilities' President, Thomas Grant, who was unavailable to testify.
Mowrey acknowledged on cross examination that one of Park Utilities' inspectors, Ed Trzepacz, filed falsified reports for inspections related to Harbor City, which were included in Harbor City's Exhibit 3.55 Mowrey testified that he had not noticed that the falsified reports were included in Exhibit 3.
The Commission takes very seriously the submission of falsified records into the record of a proceeding, particularly if it were an intentional or willfully negligent violation of Rule 1.1. Hence, ALJ Kolakowski examined under oath three witnesses: (1) Mowrey; (2) Craig Townsend, Harbor City's on-site manager; and (3) Allan Alt, Townsend's supervisor and off-site property manager. All witnesses testified that Harbor City was unaware prior to the evidentiary hearing that Park Utilities had falsified records.
Upon review of the testimony, ALJ Kolakowski ruled that the introduction of the falsified reports was not intentional on the part of Harbor City or its attorney, and hence no sanctions beyond admonishment were imposed.56 In an ALJ's ruling on January 7, 2008, the reports identified in Exhibit 11 were admitted into the record for the purpose of establishing what the parties reasonably believed at the time of the filing of the complaint, and not for their probative value regarding the condition of the System during those periods. The remaining reports in Exhibit 3 were admitted into the evidentiary record.
54 Exhibit 3, page 4.
55 Hearing Transcript, page 44, line 21 through page 45, line 20.
56 This was an unfortunate incident that distracted from an already complex proceeding. It is essential that counsel/representatives carefully review with their witnesses all documents in their testimony to be certain that the testimony and documents are correct. In situations like this, where a witness is substituting for another witness in sponsoring prepared testimony, such review is still more a necessity. Mowrey did a great disservice to Harbor City, to SoCalGas and to the Commission by his failure to adequately prepare for the hearing. Grant did a far greater disservice, as he was Trzepacz' direct supervisor and should have been aware of the falsified reports, and yet he included these falsified records with his written testimony submitted under penalty of perjury.
