May 12, 2003

Media Contact: PUC Press Office, 415.703.1366, news@cpuc.ca.gov

PUC ACTS TO STOP ILLEGAL MOVERS

The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in its ongoing efforts to clamp down on illegal moving companies, has had telephone service shut off to Grace Company, Inc., based in Los Angeles. Grace Company Inc., doing business as California Lucky Transport, had been operating a moving business without a PUC license. Grace Company, Inc. is a California corporation and its sole officer is Jong Won Lee.

Cutting off phone service has proven to be an effective tool for the PUC in curbing unlicensed companies and protecting the public. Grace Company, Inc. allegedly continued to violate the law in spite of directives issued by Commission staff to cease and desist.

The company allegedly advertised seven different telephone numbers in the Korean Yellow Pages, using its legal corporate name and its fictitious business name. Licensed household goods carriers are required to display a "Cal-T" number given to them by the PUC. By including a number in its ads that was similar to the Cal-T numbers assigned by the PUC, Grace Company may have misled the public into believing it was properly licensed. These ads currently appear in at least two Korean Yellow Pages directories distributed in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties.

Under Public Utilities (Pub.Util.) Code, Section 5133, no one may engage or attempt to engage in transporting household goods without a PUC license. Consumers using unlicensed movers may suffer irreparable losses of personal belongings with little means of recovery. Pub.Util. Code, Section 5322 authorizes the PUC to request a local phone company to cut off service to a carrier using the phone to operate illegally as a household goods carrier.

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