V. Assignment of Proceeding
Geoffrey F. Brown is the Assigned Commissioner and Janet A. Econome is the assigned ALJ in this proceeding.
1. The September 15, 2004 ruling on AT&T's motion was made after full briefing, including declarations under penalty of perjury.
2. In Verizon's September 16, 2004 notice regarding compliance with the ruling, Verizon clearly informed the Commission for the first time that it was unable at this time to deploy the packet switches and continue to provide AT&T the access required by the ruling due to the lack of OSS capabilities currently in place. Verizon stated it could not comply with the September 15 Ruling Maintaining the Status Quo if the packet switches are put in operation and therefore would not deploy the packet switches in California while the ruling remained in place.
3. In light of Verizon's September 16 compliance filing, an emergency September 17, 2004 evidentiary hearing was held on the issue of harm to the parties, with particular focus on harm to the end-user customer.
4. The testimony at the September 17, 2004 hearing confirmed the harms to AT&T set forth in the attached ruling, which the ruling found to be a sufficient showing of irreparable injury.
5. At the September 17 hearing, Verizon testified that it has performed due diligence in making certain that none of its customers would suffer harm as a result of Verizon not deploying its packet switch on September 17. Thus, Verizon now states that the harms it previously alleged would occur to end-user customers if it did not deploy its packet switch on September 17 will not occur.
6. For purposes of this motion, the harm to Verizon and its customers is the attenuated harm to California consumers who would potentially lose the future efficiencies and service improvements that are the ultimate goal of any upgrade, as well as any lost value of the investments Verizon has made.
7. This is an unforeseen emergency in that the request for relief is based on extraordinary conditions in which time is of the essence.
1. The September 15, 2004, Ruling Maintaining the Status Quo (attached to and incorporated in today's decision) sets forth the standards for obtaining injunctive relief and applies those standards appropriately.
2. The September 15, 2004 Ruling Maintaining the Status Quo, as clarified by today's decision, should be affirmed by the Commission.
3. On balance, the fairest outcome for all parties is to maintain the status quo while we expeditiously resolve this case.
4. The same circumstances requiring immediate action by the Commission also require that today's order take effect immediately.
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. The Assigned Commissioner and Administrative Law Judge's Ruling on AT&T's Emergency Motion for Order Maintaining the Status Quo Pending Resolution of the Complaint, dated September 15, 2004 and attached hereto as Appendix A, as clarified by today's decision, is confirmed.
2. The Commission's Process Office shall serve this order on the service list of this proceeding, as well as on the service list in Case (C.) 04-09-001 and C.04-09-010.
This order is effective today.
Dated September 23, 2004, at San Francisco, California.
CARL W. WOOD
LORETTA M. LYNCH
GEOFFREY F. BROWN
Commissioners
I dissent.
/s/ MICHAEL R. PEEVEY
President
I will file a dissent.
/s/ SUSAN P. KENNEDY
Commissioner
APPENDIX A
GFB/JJJ/jva 9/15/2004
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
AT&T Communications of California, Inc. (U 5002 C), TCG Los Angeles, Inc. (U 5462 C), TCG San Diego (U 5389 C) and TCG San Francisco (U 5454C), Complainants, vs. Verizon California Inc. (U 1002 C), Defendant. |
Case 04-08-026 (Filed August 19, 2004) |
ASSIGNED COMMISSIONER AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE'S RULING ON AT&T'S EMERGENCY MOTION FOR ORDER
MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO PENDING
RESOLUTION OF THE COMPLAINT
