USA – CALIFORNIA LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Nora Sheriff, Gwenneth O’Hara, Robert Dato, Efrat Cogan, Samir Hafez and Antonio Carrejo, Buchalter
12. Interim Relief 12.1 Common Forms of Interim Relief It is common for entities regulated by the Com - mission to request additional time to comply with a Commission Decision or Order. A party may seek an extension of time to comply by letter or email to the Executive Director, with a copy served at the same time on all parties to the proceeding and on the Administrative Law Judge Division. The letter must be received by the Executive Director at least five business days before the existing date for compliance and, if granted, the party requesting the extension must promptly inform all parties to the proceeding of the extension, and must state in the opening paragraph of the document that the Executive Director has authorised the extension. The CPUC cannot award damages for such things as personal injury, property damage, emotional distress, or loss of wages or profits. However, the CPUC can order reparations for unreasonable rates, and when a service has been paid for and not received. Public Utilities Code Section 734 provides that, in a complaint proceeding, the CPUC may order a public utility to make “due reparation” to a complainant if it finds that the utility has charged “unreasonable excessive, or discrimi- natory” rates in violation of Public Utilities Code Section 453. 13.2 Invalidating Legislation Aside from challenging particular actions of a particular public entity, plaintiffs are entitled to challenge the enactment of legislation by the 13. Remedies 13.1 Damages
If the CPUC does not issue a decision on an Application for Rehearing within 60 days after filing, the applicant may consider the application denied for the purpose of filing a petition for writ of review. Grounds of Defence The CPUC may grant an Application for Rehear - ing “if in its judgment sufficient reason is made to appear” . The CPUC explains its grounds for defence in its Decision denying a Petition for Modification or Order denying an Application for Rehearing. A Petition for Modification will be denied if the CPUC determines the justifications for the pro - posed changes are insufficient, or if the petition - er fails to demonstrate new or changed facts or circumstances. The CPUC will deny an Application for Rehearing if it finds that the application fails to demonstrate legal error, or if it determines the challenge is an attempt to re-litigate policy positions or reweigh evidence. In orders denying challenges to the adequacy of a CPUC Decision or Resolution’s findings, the CPUC typically asserts that it is not required to provide detailed explanations of every piece of evidence in the record. The CPUC maintains that its decisions need only include statements suf - ficient to allow an appellate court to understand the principles and facts upon which the decision relied. Additionally, the CPUC often asserts its broad discretion in determining which factors are material to its decisions.
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