Eligibility and Timeliness
Because no prehearing conference was held, the assigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) on March 20, 2000 issued a ruling setting an NOI filing deadline of June 2, 2000, 30 days after the first round of reply comments was due. In a subsequent ruling, the ALJ extended the date for reply comments and at the same time extended the NOI deadline to September 14, 2000. For all of the parties for whom we are evaluating claims in this decision, the ALJ issued the rulings called for in Section 1804(b).3 In those rulings, each claimant was found to have met the NOI filing requirements, and to have demonstrated that it was a "customer" as defined in Section 1802(b) for whom participation without an award of compensation would be a significant financial hardship. In addition, we find today that each has filed a timely request for compensation.4 Thus, each has met the requirements set forth in Items 1 through 4 in the Requirements for Awards of Compensation section above.
Under § 1804(c), the Commission staff or any other party may file a response to any claimant's request. In this case, the only response was filed by Verizon California Inc. and objected to LIF's request that the Commission apply a multiplier to LIF's request for compensation. We address Verizon California's response and LIF's subsequent reply in a later section below.5
3 ALJ's rulings dated June 21, 2000 (for UCAN), October 6, 2000 (for TURN, WCA, CSBRT and LIF), and August 17, 2001 (for NCLC, following the ALJ's granting of NCLC's motion to accept its late-filed NOI). 4 On August 25, 2004, the assigned ALJ issued a ruling determining that WCA's initially filed request for an award of compensation appeared insufficient to demonstrate that WCA had made a substantial contribution to the proceeding. WCA had also included a justification for attorney fees and other costs that appeared inadequate for the purpose. The ALJ's ruling allowed WCA additional time to file an amended request, and it did so on September 8. 5 Verizon California Inc.'s (U1002C) Response to Request for Intervenor Compensation for Substantial Contribution to D.04-05-057 and General Order 168 by Latino Issues Forum (filed September 7, 2004); and Latino Issues Forum's Reply (filed September 22, 2004).
