CPUC, TURN Urge Court to Dismiss Form 477 Disclosure Case as Moot

the ISPs complained, while ordering staff to probe telecom market competition, so the U.S. District Court in San Francisco case shouldn’t continue, the commission argued in a response (in Pacer) dated Thursday. After the proceeding closed, AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs said the court could still provide relief to the companies because the CPUC refused to agree that ISPs should receive advance notice before public disclosure of the Form 477 data (see 1612090027). The agency disagreed. "This case is not, and never has been, about a release of confidential information in response to a California Public Record Act request,” it said. “Yet, now the Plaintiffs are trying to set this Court up to micromanage future CPUC proceedings, and are inviting the Court to promulgate general standards and make advisory rulings that would directly implicate a separate ongoing regulatory proceeding before the Commission.” The regulator said it never "even contemplated releasing this data publicly.” The commission has an open rulemaking to update processes for submitting and disclosing potentially confidential information, it said. “The Commission has expressed a desire not to address this issue on a piecemeal basis, which is exactly what the Plaintiffs are trying to accomplish here.” The Utilities Reform Network (TURN) supported the commission, in a response (in Pacer). "Here, the challenged government activity has indeed evaporated as the case is now closed,” said TURN, an intervenor in the case. “None of the companies’ data at issue here was disclosed to any of the intervenors to the case and, except for what must amount to a significant bill for legal fees, there is no ongoing ‘substantial adverse effect’ to the Plaintiffs from the CPUC’s actions.”