Procedural Background

On June 14, 1999, UCAN filed its complaint alleging, among other things, that MCI did not bill its tariffed rates for California intrastate MCI Maximum Security Collect calls which were placed from MCI pre-subscribed authorized institutional phones.¹ In response to the complaint, MCI reviewed the allegations, and confirmed and corrected several billing problems.

MCI and UCAN then began negotiations over providing reparations to the overbilled customers. ORA filed a request for intervention on December 30, 1999, and submitted an appearance at the January 13, 2000 prehearing conference.

On March 5, 2000, Melvin Lewis, an inmate at Corcoran State Prison, wrote to the assigned Commissioner and enclosed a copy of a letter he sent to representatives of both UCAN and MCI. In his letter, Lewis stated that he opposed the then-anticipated settlement because he wished to receive direct compensation for the overcharges his family paid. MCI and UCAN separately responded to Lewis informing him that any settlement between UCAN and MCI would have no affect on his family's ability to seek reparations for any overcharges they paid.

The negotiations between MCI and UCAN resulted in the settlement agreement dated April 19, 2000. On May 12, 2000, ORA filed its opposition to the settlement agreement. All three parties subsequently opened settlement negotiations.

On September 7, 2000, MCI, UCAN and ORA filed a joint motion that requested Commission approval of a settlement agreement among the three parties. The redacted version of the settlement agreement is Attachment A to this decision. The parties also filed a motion asking the Commission to exclude the unredacted version of the settlement agreement from the public record. The parties stated that the unredacted version contains commercially sensitive information and analysis relating to MCI's contract with State Department of Corrections. ²