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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: March 12, 2003
Released: March 13, 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 7, 2003, the Defendants jointly filed an ``Unopposed
Motion of Defendants to Modify Procedural Schedule''
(``Motion''), requesting that the pleading cycle be modified.
The Defendants ask that we adopt their modified pleading schedule
because it is in all of the parties' best interests to compile a
complete written record for Commission decision on the issues
raised in the formal complaint proceeding.2 Further, Defendants
assert that a ``modest extension of time for the Defendants'
[sic] to submit their initial filings, coupled with the
Defendants' agreement to waive challenges to the timeliness of
the Complainant's interrogatory requests,'' will facilitate
production of a complete record and assist the Commission in its
decision-making process.3 In a conference call with the
Commission staff held on March 7, 2003, all parties acknowledged
that the proposed modifications in the procedural schedule would
be acceptable to them.
We are satisfied that granting the Defendants' joint 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) On or before April 1, 2003, the defendants shall
file and serve their request for Interrogatories, if
any, pursuant to 47 C.F.R. §1.729.
2) The defendants shall, on or before April 1, 2003,
file and serve an answer to the complaint that complies
with 47 C.F.R. §1.724.
3) The complainant shall, on or before April 11,
2003, file and serve a reply to the answer that
complies with 47 C.F.R. §1.726.
4) The complainant shall, on or before April 11,
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.
5) The defendants shall, on or before April 18, 2003,
file any opposition and objections to the complainants'
request for interrogatories, if any. 47 C.F.R. §1.729.
6) An initial status conference in this proceeding
has been scheduled for April 22, 2003, at 10:00 a.m.,
in the Third Floor North Conference Room (Room 3-B142)
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 18, 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 Defendants to Modify
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 (Deputy Chief,
Telecommunications Consumers Division), rel. Feb. 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 Motion at 2.
3 Id.