CPUC Division Violated Court Order, Say Telcos
Telecom companies alleged violation of a court injunction by a division of the California Public Utilities Commission that disclosed Form 477 data to an outside consultant. The form includes information about phone and broadband deployment. U.S. District Court in San…
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Francisco on May 20 issued a preliminary injunction temporarily banning the CPUC from disclosing confidential subscription data to third parties in a commission investigation of market competition (see 1605240014). CPUC’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates violated the injunction when it disclosed the Form 477 data to at least one third-party consultant -- Lee Selwyn, president of Economics and Technology Inc. -- claimed AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs in a Tuesday motion (in Pacer). Selwyn relied on the data in testimony June 1, while the injunction was in effect, they said. The telecom companies said they confronted ORA. The office didn’t dispute disclosing data to the consultant but claimed it didn’t violate the preliminary injunction. "The disclosure to a consultant who is not a direct employee of the CPUC -- and who over the course of his career has often represented Plaintiffs’ competitors and opponents -- is precisely the type of disclosure prohibited by" the FCC "that formed the basis of the preliminary injunction,” the plaintiffs said. “Even if [Selwyn] scrupulously abides by the terms of the Protective Order, he cannot ‘unsee’ the Form 477 data, and questions will invariably arise about the extent to which his future work for private parties makes use of those data, even unintentionally." The telcos urged the court to enforce the preliminary injunction and enter civil contempt sanctions against the defendants. Or the court should order the CPUC to retrieve all Form 477 data that has been disclosed to anyone not a direct employee of the CPUC, withdraw Selwyn’s testimony, bar that agency from taking any actions based on the testimony and prohibit ORA any other parties from using Selwyn as a witness in the case. ORA didn’t comment Wednesday.