2006-12-06 tmartinage-nunn - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

ALAMEDA: Commissioner McCall? MCCALL: Yeah, I wanted to, I mean, I think we could probably ask our Corporation Counsel to update the potential intervenor on what his rights and responsibilities are in the contested case procedure. But I do want to correct the applicant in that the contested case procedure is a quasi-judicial thing and there are special rights, but it is up to the Commission as to who hears it. It is not, we do not automatically send this out to a hearings officer. In fact, frequently in cases such as this which are relatively, you know, small and simple, the Commission will choose to hear it; and so primary difference is that it gives an intervenor specific rights. And so I’d like to ask if the Corporation Counsel could explain what those rights and responsibilities are. ALAMEDA: Mr. Torigoe? TORIGOE: I thank you, Mr. Chair. MARTINAGE: Could I just add one thing, I think, uh-. ALAMEDA: No, you may not. Mr. Torigoe? TORIGOE: Thank you. Very briefly. Under the Commission’s Rule 4, the Contested Case Procedure, there is a couple of things: Number one, it allows for the parties to have a quasi- judicial, trial-like proceeding, as Commissioner McCall noted, that is you have the right to present witnesses and present exhibits and cross-examine witnesses and argue your case in a trial-like setting. But you also have the right to agree to a simplified kind of contested case, you know, so you can basically make it as simple or as trial-like as you want. Also, as Commissioner McCall properly noted, it is the Commission that has the choice whether it’s going to hear your case all together, and they could even do that today right now, if the parties are agreeable to that and if the Commission wants to go ahead and do that in a simplified fashion. Or, if it appears that it’s going to be a really complicated trial-like case that’s going to take a lot of time, the Commission has the option of hiring a hearings officer to conduct A contested case hearing, come back to the Commission with a report and recommendation on a decision. So, there are a range of options that the Commission can take to hold this contested case, but it does require the parties to be engaged and to be presenting evidence and to be prepared to make their arguments. And so that’s the first thing that a contested case does; it gives the parties the chance to really hash it out, you know, in a fairly formal fashion. The second thing that the contested case does is that it gives the parties the opportunity to take an appeal from the decision to the Circuit Court, if any party is dissatisfied with that, after the contested case is over, and the appeal can extend all the way up to the Hawai`i Supreme Court, if necessary. So that’s basically what a contested case signs you up for. Again, if you can talk about doing it in a very simplified fashion, then that is within your rights to do so, and may allow the Commission to handle it also in a simplified fashion. ALAMEDA: Thank you. Mr. McCall, did that-? EXHIBIT A 11