Opinion ID: 1428299
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Opportunity to Cross-Examine Staff Witness

Text: {34} We also determine that the admission of Mr. Roybal's testimony over U S West's objection did not deprive U S West of due process. It is not uncommon for the Commission's telecommunications staff to present witnesses at a hearing before the Commission. See, e.g., U S West 1995, 121 N.M. at 163-64, 909 P.2d at 723-24 (noting testimony of a staff witness); Mountain States 1986, 104 N.M. at 40, 715 P.2d at 1336 (same); Mountain States 1982, 99 N.M. at 8, 653 P.2d at 508 (same). {35} In this case, the Commission's staff first announced that Mr. Roybal was in attendance as a staff witness when entering its appearance at the beginning of the hearing. When U S West later objected to the admission of Mr. Roybal's testimony, the Commission's staff responded that basically, Staff is taking this opportunity to present its comments in a similar manner as other parties here, but through the witness. U S West then proposed to allow Mr. Roybal to make a statement in the same manner as other comments from the public, but noted that if it's going to be sworn and on the record, it needs to be subject to cross-examination, that's all. Commissioner Block, who was serving as the hearing officer, then stated: I just don't know where you're coming from. ... [O]n one hand you don't want cross-examination because you haven't had time to review it, and on the other hand you want to cross-examine him in case he says something you don't agree with. We've got to do it one way or the other. Under these circumstances, we believe the Commission was correct in requiring Mr. Roybal to testify under oath subject to cross-examination by U S West. Cf. Battershell, 108 N.M. at 662, 777 P.2d at 390 (finding reversible error in an administrative body's decision not to allow parties to cross examine opposing witnesses in a zoning hearing). {36} Having afforded U S West this procedural safeguard, however, we do not find that U S West was deprived of an adequate opportunity to question Mr. Roybal and to defend against the claims he made in his testimony. Apart from making the type of general comments and policy comments to which U S West did not object, Mr. Roybal's testimony was limited to summarizing and making inferences from the evidence that U S West had already submitted to the Commission. The staff exhibits on which he relied to summarize the data from U S West's annual reports had been prefiled by the Commission's staff the day before the hearing. As such, Mr. Roybal's testimony did not rely on any new evidence that was not available to U S West prior to the hearing. {37} Further, U S West has not shown how it was unfairly prejudiced by the admission of Mr. Roybal's testimony, or how the risk of error in the proceedings would have been reduced by excluding this testimony. See Mathews, 424 U.S. at 335, 96 S.Ct. 893 (noting that identification of the specific dictates of due process generally requires consideration of ... the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards); Helen F. v. State ex rel. Human Servs. Dep't (In re Kenny F.), 109 N.M. 472, 475, 786 P.2d 699, 702 (Ct.App.1990) (concluding that there is no violation of due process when a party is able to cross-examine an opponent's expert witness and makes no showing of how that cross-examination was impeded by the alleged delayed disclosure of the [expert's] report). We note that U S West did not take advantage of existing procedures for discovering evidence in the possession of the Commission's staff prior to the hearing, nor did the company request a less drastic remedy such as granting a continuance to provide more time to prepare for the cross-examination of Mr. Roybal. See In re Kenny F., 109 N.M. at 475, 786 P.2d at 702 (It is not reversible error to refuse to impose [the] drastic sanction [of striking the witness's testimony] even though a less severe remedy, such as a continuance, may have been warranted if requested.). {38} Finally, U S West made no showing of what additional evidence or rebuttal it would have presented at the hearing if it had been afforded better notice of Mr. Roybal's testimony. From our review of the record, it appears that U S West was able to use its cross-examination of Mr. Roybal to make the argument that the Commission lacked the authority to immediately order an interim rate reductionan issue which the Commission gave the parties an additional opportunity to address in writing after the conclusion of the hearing. In addition, it appears that U S West was able to effectively cross-examine Mr. Roybal concerning both his methodology and his conclusions. Under these circumstances, we find no violation of due process in the admission of Mr. Roybal's testimony.