ALJ/JPO/MOD-POD/tcg * Mailed 7/18/2002

Decision 02-07-020 July 17, 2002

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Pacific Bell (U 1001 C), Complainant, vs. FirstWorld Communications, Inc. FirstWorld SoCal (U 5733 C) FirstWorld Orange Coast (U 5782 C) FirstWorld SGV (U 5783 C) Defendant.

Case 99-04-046 (Filed April 28, 1999)

David Discher, Attorney at Law, and Colleen O'Grady, Attorney at Law, for Pacific Bell, complainant.

Blumenfeld & Cohen, by Stephen P. Bowen, Attorney at Law, for First World Southern California, defendant.

Nossaman Guthner Knox & Elliott, LLP, by Martin A. Mattes, Attorney at Law, for the special purpose of contesting personal jurisdiction for The Mills Corporation and Orange City Mills Limited Partnership.

OPINION DISMISSING COMPLAINT

Summary

In its complaint, Pacific Bell (Pacific) alleged that FirstWorld SoCal (U 5733) (FWSC), by virtue of its Letter of Agreement (LOA) with Orange City Mills Limited Partnership (Mills), is the exclusive provider of service at The Block at Orange (Block), a shopping mall. Mills owns Block. Pacific also alleged that FWSC was the beneficiary of better terms of access to Block than Pacific was offered, in violation of Decision (D.) 98-10-058 and D.92-01-023. Pacific asked that FWSC be ordered to renegotiate the LOA so that FWSC will not have the ability to exclude Pacific from serving customers at Block. By D.02-05-045, we revoked FWSC's Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN). The LOA no longer exists, and FWSC no longer provides service to Block. Therefore, since the causes of action no longer exist, this proceeding is dismissed.

I. Background

Hearings were held on November 8, 9, 10, and 12, 1999, briefs were filed, and the proceeding was submitted on December 23, 1999.¹ The Presiding Officer's Decision (POD) was mailed on February 18, 2000. Commissioner Richard A. Bilas filed a request for review on March 17, 2000, and FWSC filed an appeal on March 20, 2000.

On May 9, 2001, FWSC filed Application 01-05-023 to discontinue service to customers in selected rate centers, including Block. On May 24, 2001, FWSC filed a motion to dismiss this complaint. On May 25, 2001, FWSC's customers at Block were transitioned to Pacific. On June 8, 2001, Pacific filed its opposition to the motion to dismiss. Subsequently, FWSC modified its application to include all of its customers, and to relinquish its CPCN. By D.02-05-045, FWSC's application was granted and its CPCN revoked.

In its motion to dismiss, FWSC stated that it would no longer be serving tenants at Block. FWSC and Mills would be terminating the LOA resulting in Mills acquiring FWSC's inside wire and intrabuilding network cable. Therefore, FWSC says that the material facts on which the complaint was based have changed so as to render the causes of action moot.

In opposing the motion, Pacific said that it suffered compensable damages as a result of FWSC's actions. A finding that FWSC violated Commission decisions would enable it to recover damages in state court. Pacific also says that FWSC's actions should be addressed to prevent future harm to customers, competitors, and competition by FWSC or other carriers.