**Before the**

**FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION**

**Washington, D.C. 20554**

+----------------------------------+---+------------------------------+
| Dr. Bonnie O'Day,                | ) | File Nos.                    |
|                                  |   |                              |
| Complainant,                     | ) | EB-03-TC-F-004               |
|                                  |   |                              |
| v\.                              | ) | EB-03-TC-F-001               |
|                                  |   |                              |
| Audiovox Communications          | ) |                              |
| Corporation                      |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
| and                              |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
| Cellco Partnership, d/b/a        |   |                              |
| Verizon Wireless,                | ) |                              |
|                                  |   |                              |
| Defendants.                      | ) |                              |
|                                  |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
+----------------------------------+---+------------------------------+
|                                  |   |                              |
+----------------------------------+---+------------------------------+

**ORDER**

Adopted: March 12, 2003 Released: March 13, 2003

By the Chief, Telecommunications Consumers Division, Enforcement Bureau:

1.  On February 21, 2003, Dr. Bonnie O'Day ("O'Day" or "Complainant")
    filed a formal complaint alleging, among other things, that many of
    the features of a wireless telephone developed by Audiovox
    Communications Corporation and Cellco Parnership d/b/a Verizon
    Wireless ("Defendants") are inaccessible to blind or
    visually-impaired users. In a Notice of Formal Complaint issued on
    February 28, 2003, the Telecommunications Consumers Division
    ("Division") set forth a pleading cycle for the O'Day formal
    complaint proceeding.[^1]

2.  On March 7, 2003, the Defendants jointly filed an "Unopposed Motion
    of Defendants to Modify Procedural Schedule" ("Motion"), requesting
    that the pleading cycle be modified. The Defendants ask that we
    adopt their modified pleading schedule because it is in all of the
    parties' best interests to compile a complete written record for
    Commission decision on the issues raised in the formal complaint
    proceeding.[^2] Further, Defendants assert that a "modest extension
    of time for the Defendants' \[sic\] to submit their initial filings,
    coupled with the Defendants' agreement to waive challenges to the
    timeliness of the Complainant's interrogatory requests," will
    facilitate production of a complete record and assist the Commission
    in its decision-making process.[^3] In a conference call with the
    Commission staff held on March 7, 2003, all parties acknowledged
    that the proposed modifications in the procedural schedule would be
    acceptable to them.

3.  We are satisfied that granting the Defendants' joint unopposed
    Motion will serve the public interest by promoting the development
    of a complete record in this proceeding, without harming any of the
    parties involved. We therefore set out the following modified
    procedural schedule and instructions to the parties:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
1)  On or before April 1, 2003, the defendants shall file and serve
    their request for Interrogatories, if any, pursuant to 47 C.F.R.
    §1.729.

2)  The defendants shall, on or before April 1, 2003, file and serve an
    answer to the complaint that complies with 47 C.F.R. §1.724.

3)  The complainant shall, on or before April 11, 2003, file and serve a
    reply to the answer that complies with 47 C.F.R. §1.726.

4)  The complainant shall, on or before April 11, 2003, file and serve
    its request for up to fifteen (15) interrogatories upon each of the
    Defendants, and file and serve any opposition and objections to
    defendants' request for interrogatories, if any. 47 C.F.R. §1.729.

5)  The defendants shall, on or before April 18, 2003, file any
    opposition and objections to the complainants' request for
    interrogatories, if any. 47 C.F.R. §1.729.

6)  An initial status conference in this proceeding has been scheduled
    for April 22, 2003, at 10:00 a.m., in the Third Floor North
    Conference Room (Room 3-B142) of the Federal Communications
    Commission, 445 12^th^ Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. After
    reaching the 3^rd^ Floor-North elevator lobby, the parties should
    call Amy Goodman at 418-1549 to be escorted to the conference room.
    *See* 47 C.F.R. §1.733. Counsel should be prepared to spend at least
    two hours in conference.

7)  The parties shall meet prior to attending the initial status
    conference. One purpose of that meeting is to resolve or narrow as
    many issues as possible prior to the conference. The parties shall
    discuss matters including, but not limited to, settlement prospects,
    discovery, factual and legal issues in dispute, pleading schedules,
    and the creation of a joint statement of stipulated facts, disputed
    facts, and key legal issues. *See* 47 C.F.R. §1.733(b)(1).

8)  The parties shall file with the Commission Secretary and the
    Commission counsel (Amy Goodman) a joint statement of all proposals
    agreed to and any disputes remaining with respect to the matters
    listed in 47 C.F.R. §1.733(b)(1)(i)-(iv) as a result of the parties'
    meeting. At the same time, the parties also shall submit a joint
    statement of stipulated facts, disputed facts, and key legal issues.
    *See* 47 C.F.R. §§1.732(h), 1.733(b)(1)(v), 1.733(b)(2). Both joint
    statements must be hand-delivered (if counsel is located in the
    Washington, D.C. area), faxed, and e-mailed to the Commission
    counsel, and filed with the Commission Secretary, on or before April
    18, 2003. *See* 47 C.F.R. §1.733(b)(2). The parties may submit these
    two joint statements in a single document, as long as each is
    separately identified therein. We strongly encourage the parties to
    devote substantial effort to developing comprehensive and detailed
    joint statements. *See* *Implementation of Sections 255 and
    251(a)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934, as enacted by the
    Telecommunications Act of 1996; Access to Telecommunications
    Service, Telecommunications Equipment and Customer Premises
    Equipment by Persons with Disabilities*, 16 FCC Rcd 6417,
    5696-97 (1999) (*"Section 255 Order*").

9)  The parties shall review the formal complaint rules carefully to
    determine whether the circumstances of this proceeding require that
    any additional pleadings, other than those described herein, must be
    served and filed prior to the initial status conference. *See,
    e.g.,* 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.726 (replies), 1.729 (discovery).

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
4.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to sections 4(i), 4(j), 208,
    and 255 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§
    154(i), 154(j), 208, 255, section 1.3 of the Commission's rules, 47
    C.F.R. § 1.3, and the authority delegated in sections 0.111 and
    0.311 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.311, that the
    Unopposed Motion of Defendants to Modify Procedural Schedule IS
    GRANTED.

> FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Colleen K. Heitkamp

> Chief, Telecommunications Consumers Division
>
> Enforcement Bureau

[^1]: *See* O'Day v. Audiovox Communications Corporation and Verizon
    Wireless, Notice of Formal Complaint (Deputy Chief,
    Telecommunications Consumers Division), rel. Feb. 28, 2003. The
    Notice inadvertently omitted the second file number for these
    proceedings; both file numbers are set out in the caption to this
    Order.

[^2]: Motion at 2.

[^3]: *Id.*