2010 Pennsylvania Code
Title 66 - PUBLIC UTILITIES
Chapter 3 - Public Utility Commission
333 - Prehearing procedures.

     § 333.  Prehearing procedures.
        (a)  Conferences.--The presiding officer shall have the
     authority to hold one or more prehearing conferences during the
     course of the proceeding on his own motion or at the request of
     a party to the proceeding. The presiding officer shall normally
     hold at least one prehearing conference in proceedings where the
     issues are complex or where it appears likely that the hearing
     will last a considerable period of time. In addition to other
     matters which the commission may prescribe by rule, the
     presiding officer at a prehearing conference may direct the
     parties to exchange their evidentiary exhibits and witness lists
     prior to the hearing. Where good cause exists, the parties may
     at any time amend, by deletion or supplementation, their
     evidentiary exhibits and witness lists.
        (b)  Depositions.--A party to the proceeding shall be able to
     take depositions of witnesses upon oral examination or written
     questions for purposes of discovering relevant, unprivileged
     information, subject to the following conditions:
            (1)  The taking of depositions shall normally be deferred
        until there has been at least one prehearing conference.
            (2)  The party seeking to take a deposition shall apply
        to the presiding officer for an order to do so.
            (3)  The party seeking to take a deposition shall serve
        copies of the application on the other party or parties to
        the proceedings, who shall be given an opportunity, along
        with the deponent, to notify the presiding officer of any
        objections to the taking of the deposition.
            (4)  The presiding officer shall not grant an application
        to take a deposition if he finds that the taking of the
        deposition would result in undue delay.
            (5)  The presiding officer shall otherwise grant an
        application to take a deposition unless he finds that there
        is not good cause for doing so.
            (6)  The deposing of a commission employee shall only be
        allowed upon an order of the presiding officer based on a
        specific finding that the party applying to take the
        deposition is seeking significant, unprivileged information
        not discoverable by alternative means. Any such order shall
        be subject to an interlocutory appeal to the commission.
            (7)  An order to take a deposition shall be enforceable
        through the issuance of a subpoena ad testificandum.
        (c)  Disclosure of information on witnesses.--At the
     prehearing conference or at some other reasonable time prior to
     the hearing, which may be established by commission rule, each
     party to the proceeding shall make available to the other
     parties to the proceeding the names of the witnesses he expects
     to call and the subject matter of their expected testimony.
     Where good cause exists, the parties shall have the right at any
     time to amend, by deletion or supplementation, the list of names
     of the witnesses they plan to call and the subject matter of the
     expected testimony of those witnesses.
        (d)  Interrogatories.--Any party to a proceeding may serve
     written interrogatories upon any other party for purposes of
     discovering relevant, unprivileged information. A party served
     with interrogatories may, before the time prescribed either by
     commission rule or otherwise for answering the interrogatories,
     apply to the presiding officer for the holding of a prehearing
     conference for the mutual exchange of evidence exhibits and
     other information. Each interrogatory which requests information
     not previously supplied at a prehearing conference or hearing
     shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath,
     unless it is objected to, in which event the reasons for the
     objections shall be stated in lieu of an answer. The party upon
     whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve a copy of
     the answers and objections within a reasonable time, unless
     otherwise specified, upon the party submitting the
     interrogatories. The party submitting the interrogatories may
     petition the presiding officer for an order compelling an answer
     to an interrogatory or interrogatories to which there has been
     an objection or other failure to answer. The commission shall
     designate an appropriate official, other than the Director of
     Trial Staff or any other employee of the Office of Trial Staff,
     on whom other parties to the proceeding may serve written
     interrogatories directed to the commission. That official shall
     arrange for agency personnel with knowledge of the facts to
     answer and sign the interrogatories on behalf of the commission.
     Interrogatories directed to the commission shall be allowed only
     upon an order of the commission based upon a specific finding
     that the interrogating party is seeking significant,
     unprivileged information not discoverable by alternative means.
     When participating in a commission proceeding, the Office of
     Trial Staff shall be subject to the same rules of discovery
     applicable to any other party to the case.
        (e)  Requests for admissions.--A party to a proceeding may
     serve upon any other party and upon the commission to the same
     extent permissible in subsection (d) a written request for the
     admission, for purposes of the pending proceeding and to
     conserve hearing time, of any relevant, unprivileged, undisputed
     facts, the genuineness of any document described in the request,
     the admissibility of evidence, the order of proof and other
     similar matters.
        (f)  Subpoena duces tecum.--A party to a proceeding may
     obtain in accordance with commission rules a subpoena duces
     tecum requiring the production of or the making available for
     inspection, copying or photographing of relevant necessary
     designated documents at a prehearing conference or other
     specific time and place.
        (g)  Scheduling.--The presiding officer shall have the
     authority to impose schedules on the parties to the proceeding
     specifying the periods of time during which the parties may
     pursue each means of discovery available to them under the rules
     of the commission. Such schedules and time periods shall be set
     with a view to accelerating disposition of the case to the
     fullest extent consistent with fairness.
        (h)  Certification of interlocutory appeals.--Except as
     provided in subsection (b)(6), an interlocutory appeal from a
     ruling of the presiding officer on discovery shall be allowed
     only upon certification by the presiding officer that the ruling
     involves an important question of law or policy which should be
     resolved at that time. Notwithstanding the presiding officer's
     certification, the commission shall have the authority to
     dismiss summarily the interlocutory appeal if it should appear
     that the certification was improvident. An interlocutory appeal
     shall not result in a stay of the proceedings except upon a
     finding by the presiding officer and the commission that
     extraordinary circumstances exist.
        (i)  Protective orders.--The presiding officer shall have the
     authority, upon motion by a party or by the person from whom
     discovery is sought, and for good cause shown, to make any
     order, subject to the rules of the commission, which justice
     requires to protect the party or person.
        (j)  Other subpoenas.--The presiding officer shall have the
     power in accordance with commission rules to issue subpoenas ad
     testificandum and duces tecum at any time during the course of
     the proceeding.
     (July 10, 1986, P.L.1238, No.114, eff. imd.)

        1986 Amendment.  Act 114 amended subsec. (d).