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Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20554
Dr. Bonnie O'Day, )
)
Complainant, )
)
v. ) File Nos.
)
Audiovox Communications ) EB-03-TC-F-004
Corporation )
)
and )
) EB-03-TC-F-001
Cellco Partnership, d/b/a )
Verizon Wireless, )
Defendants.
ORDER
Adopted: April 11, 2003
Released: April 14, 2003
By the Chief, Telecommunications Consumers Division,
Enforcement Bureau:
On February 21, 2003, Dr. Bonnie O'Day (``O'Day'' or
``Complainant'') filed a formal complaint alleging, among
other things, that many of the features of a wireless
telephone developed by Audiovox Communications Corporation
and Cellco Parnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless
(``Defendants'') are inaccessible to blind or visually-
impaired users. In a Notice of Formal Complaint issued on
February 28, 2003, the Telecommunications Consumers Division
(``Division'') set forth a pleading cycle for the O'Day
formal complaint proceeding.1 On March 13, 2003, in
response to a joint motion filed by the Defendants, the
Division slightly modified the pleading schedule for the
proceeding.2
On April 7, 2003, the Complainant filed an ``Unopposed
Motion for Limited Modification of the Procedural Schedule''
(``Motion''), requesting that the pleading cycle established
in the March 13 Order be extended by one week to afford her
the opportunity to
respond to Defendants' Answers, Audiovox's Motion to
Dismiss, and to meet other deadlines in the proceedings. 3
We are satisfied that granting the Complainant's unopposed
Motion will serve the public interest by promoting the
development of a complete record in this proceeding, without
harming any of the parties involved. We therefore set out
the following modified procedural schedule and instructions
to the parties:
1) The Complainant shall, on or before April 18,
2003, file and serve a reply to the answer that
complies with 47 C.F.R. § 1.726.
2) The Complainant shall, on or before April 18,
2003, file and serve its request for up to fifteen
(15) interrogatories upon each of the Defendants,
and file and serve any opposition and objections
to defendants' request for interrogatories, if
any. 47 C.F.R. § 1.729.
3) The Complainant shall, on or before April 18,
2003, file and serve its Opposition to Defendant
Audiovox's Motion to Dismiss filed on April 2,
2003. We note that defendant Audiovox has waived
any timeliness objections to Complainant's filing
of its Opposition on April 18, 2003.
4) The Defendants shall, on or before April 25,
2003, file any opposition and objections to the
Complainants' request for interrogatories, if any.
47 C.F.R. § 1.729.
5) We note that Complainant has waived any
timeliness objection to Defendant Audiovox's
filing of a Motion to Compel with respect to
Complainant's response to Audiovox's ``First
Interrogatory'' in this proceeding.
6) An initial status conference in this
proceeding has been scheduled for May 1, 2003, at
10:00 a.m., in the Third Floor North Conference
Room (Room 3-B112) of the Federal Communications
Commission, 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington,
D.C. 20554. After reaching the 3rd Floor-North
elevator lobby, the parties should call Amy
Goodman at 418-1549 to be escorted to the
conference room. See 47 C.F.R. § 1.733. Counsel
should be prepared to spend at least two hours in
conference.
7) The parties shall meet prior to attending the
initial status conference. One purpose of that
meeting is to resolve or narrow as many issues as
possible prior to the conference. The parties
shall discuss matters including, but not limited
to, settlement prospects, discovery, factual and
legal issues in dispute, pleading schedules, and
the creation of a joint statement of stipulated
facts, disputed facts, and key legal issues. See
47 C.F.R. § 1.733(b)(1).
8) The parties shall file with the Commission
Secretary and the Commission counsel (Amy Goodman)
a joint statement of all proposals agreed to and
any disputes remaining with respect to the matters
listed in 47 C.F.R. § 1.733(b)(1)(i)-(iv) as a
result of the parties' meeting. At the same time,
the parties also shall submit a joint statement of
stipulated facts, disputed facts, and key legal
issues. See 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.732(h),
1.733(b)(1)(v), 1.733(b)(2). Both joint
statements must be hand-delivered (if counsel is
located in the Washington, D.C. area), faxed, and
e-mailed to the Commission counsel, and filed with
the Commission Secretary, on or before April 25,
2003. See 47 C.F.R. § 1.733(b)(2). The parties
may submit these two joint statements in a single
document, as long as each is separately identified
therein. We strongly encourage the parties to
devote substantial effort to developing
comprehensive and detailed joint statements. See
Implementation of Sections 255 and 251(a)(2) of
the Communications Act of 1934, as enacted by the
Telecommunications Act of 1996; Access to
Telecommunications Service, Telecommunications
Equipment and Customer Premises Equipment by
Persons with Disabilities, 16 FCC Rcd 6417, 5696-
97 (1999) (``Section 255 Order'').
9) The parties shall review the formal complaint
rules carefully to determine whether the
circumstances of this proceeding require that any
additional pleadings, other than those described
herein, must be served and filed prior to the
initial status conference. See, e.g., 47 C.F.R.
§§ 1.726 (replies), 1.729 (discovery).
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to sections 4(i), 4(j),
208, and 255 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
47 U.S.C. §§ 154(i), 154(j), 208, 255, section 1.3 of the
Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.3, and the authority
delegated in sections 0.111 and 0.311 of the Commission's
rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.311, that the Unopposed Motion
of Complainant for Limited Modification of the Procedural
Schedule IS GRANTED.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Colleen K. Heitkamp
Chief, Telecommunications Consumers
Division
Enforcement Bureau
_________________________
1 See O'Day v. Audiovox Communications Corporation and
Verizon Wireless, Notice of Formal Complaint, dated
February 28, 2003. The Notice inadvertently omitted the
second file number for these proceedings; both file numbers
are set out in the caption to this Order.
2 See O'Day v. Audiovox Communications Corporation &
Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless, Order, DA 03-
767, rel. Mar. 13, 2003 (``March 13 Order'').
3 A conference call had been held on April 4, 2003, to
discuss Complainant's request. In her Motion, the
Complainant states that the one-week extension would apply
to paragraphs 3 through 9 of the Division's March 13 Order.
Motion at 2. The Complainant further states that the
parties have agreed to waive challenges to the timeliness
of pleadings filed in accordance with Complainant's Motion.
Id.