Procedural History

Graham filed his initial complaint in this proceeding on March 31, 1999. AMWC filed a timely answer on May 13, followed by a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The administrative law judge (ALJ) and assigned commissioner held a prehearing conference (PHC) on June 10, 1999, for the purposes of formulating and simplifying the issues and setting a procedural schedule. At the direction of the ALJ the parties filed a Joint Case Management Statement on July 2, 1999, to accomplish these purposes.

On July 12, 1999, Graham filed an amended complaint that reflected the parties' reformulation of the issues. AMWC filed its answer to the amended complaint on July 19.¹ The ALJ held an evidentiary hearing in Atascadero on September 10, 1999, after which the parties filed two rounds of briefs. The proceeding was submitted on December 27, 1999. Owing to the parties' request to extend the briefing schedule, we issued Decision (D.) 00-03-008, extending the statutory deadline under Pub. Util. Code § 1701.2(d) for resolution of this case.