Current through Register 1531, September 27, 2024
(1)
Office. The principal office of the Department is One
South Station, 5th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts. The
office of the Department shall be open from 8:45 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. each weekday
except Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.
(2)
Date of Receipt.
(a)
By the
Department. All communications, including correspondence, motions,
and pleading, shall be deemed to be filed or received on the date on which they
are received by the Department at its principal office. With respect to
electronic filings, the document is deemed filed on the date the Department
receives the electronic filing if it is received during the Department's normal
business hours. If the document is electronically filed on a weekend, on a
holiday observed by the Department, or during hours when the Department is
closed, the document will be deemed filed on the date when the Department is
next open for business.
(b)
By Parties and Other Persons. All communications,
including correspondence, motions, and pleading, shall be deemed to be filed or
received on the date on which they are deposited in the United States mail,
properly addressed and postage paid, or delivered in person to a party or other
person, or served electronically pursuant to the Department's Electronic Filing
Guidelines.
(3)
Identification. Communications should concern but one
matter, should contain the name and address of the communicator, and the
appropriate certificate or permit number, if there be any pertaining to the
subject of the communication. When the subject matter pertains to a pending
docket, the title of the proceeding and the docket number should be
given.
(4)
Computation
of Time. Computation of any period of time referred to in 220 CMR
1.00 shall begin with the first day following that on which the act that
initiates such period of time occurs. The last day of the period so computed is
to be included unless it is a day on which the office of the Department is
closed, in which event the period shall run until the end of the next following
business day. When such period of time, with the intervening Saturdays,
Sundays, and legal holidays counted, is five days or less, the said Saturdays,
Sundays, and legal holidays shall be excluded from the computation; otherwise,
such days shall be included in the computation.
(5)
Extensions of
Time. In the discretion of the Commission or the presiding
officer, for good cause shown, any time limit prescribed or allowed by 220 CMR
1.00 may be extended. All requests for extensions shall be made by motion in
accordance with
220 CMR
1.04(5), and shall be made
before the expiration of the period originally prescribed or as previously
extended. The Secretary of the Commission shall notify all parties of the
Commission' s action upon the motion.
(6)
Signatures.
Every application, notice, pleading, petition, complaint, motion, brief and
memorandum shall be signed by the filing party or by one or more attorneys, in
their individual names on behalf of the filing party. Electronic signatures,
pursuant to the Department's Electronic Filing Guidelines, shall satisfy this
requirement.
(7)
Appearances. An appearance shall be made in any
proceeding by filing a written notice thereof and serving a copy on all persons
who have theretofore appeared.
(8)
Formal Requirements as to Pleading, Documents and Other Papers
Filed in Proceedings.
(a)
Copies. Except as may be otherwise required by the
rules or regulations of the Department, or ordered or requested by the
Department, at the time pleading, documents, or other papers are filed with the
Department, there shall be furnished to the Department an original of such
papers. A paper filed pursuant to the Department's Electronic Filing Guidelines
shall be considered an original.
(b)
Form. Except for
forms provided by the Department, which shall be used where appropriate,
pleading, documents, or other papers filed with the Department shall be printed
or typewritten on paper cut or folded to either letter or legal size, 81/2
inches wide by 11 to 14 inches long, with left-hand margin not less than 11/2
inches wide and other margins not less than one inch. The impression shall be
double spaced, except that quotations in excess of a few lines may be single
spaced and indented. Double-sided pages are permitted. Photocopied or the like
copies will be accepted as typewritten, provided all copies are clear and
permanently legible. The Department's Electronic Filing Guidelines govern the
form of electronic filings.
(c)
Filing. All pleading documents or papers relating to
matters requiring action by the Commission shall be filed with the Secretary of
the Department, One South Station, 5th Floor,
Boston, Massachusetts 02110, unless electronically files pursuant to 220 CMR
1.02(8)(d).
(d)
Electronic Filing. Papers may be filed and signed by
electronic means pursuant to the Department's Electronic Filing Guidelines. A
paper filed electronically in compliance with the Electronic Filing Guidelines
is a written paper or document for purposes of 220 CMR 1.00.
(9)
Ex Parte
Communications in Adjudicatory
Proceedings.
(a) From the
initial filing in an adjudicatory proceeding until the rendering of a final
decision, a Commissioner, presiding officer, or staff member of the Department
may not communicate with a party or interested person about any substantive
issue of fact, law, or policy except upon reasonable notice and opportunity for
all parties to participate.
(b)
Communications not prohibited by 220 CMR 1.02(9)(a) include:
1. Communications concerning scheduling,
administrative, and other procedural matters; and
2. Communications between a party and
assigned settlement intervention staff for the purpose of producing a
settlement, or communications between a party and staff assigned to conduct
alternative dispute resolution or mediation proceedings.
(c) If a person makes or attempts to make an
ex parte communication prohibited by 220 CMR 1.02(9)(a), the
Commissioner, presiding officer, or staff member shall advise the person that
the communication is prohibited and shall immediately terminate the prohibited
communication.
(d) If a
Commissioner, presiding officer, or staff member violates the
ex parte
rule, he or she shall, no later than two business days after
determining that the communication was prohibited, serve on each party and
place in the docket file the following:
1. A
written statement including the substance and circumstances surrounding the
communication; the identity of each person who participated in the
communication; the time, date, and duration of the communication; and whether,
in his or her opinion, the receipt of the ex parte
communication disqualifies him or her from further participation in
the adjudicatory proceeding; and
2.
Any written or electronic documentation of the communication.
The above documents to be placed in the docket file shall not
be made a part of the evidentiary record.
(e) The Department may, upon the motion of
any party or on its own motion, accept or require the submission of additional
evidence of the substance of a communication prohibited by 220 CMR
1.02(9)(a).
(f) Upon receipt of a
communication made or caused to be made by a party in violation of 220 CMR
1.02(9)(a), the Department may, to the extent consistent with the interests of
justice, require the party to show cause why his or her claim or interest in
the adjudicatory proceeding should not be dismissed, denied, disregarded, or
otherwise adversely affected on account of such violation.
(g) Where a party has violated 220 CMR
1.02(9)(a), the Department or presiding officer may take such action as is
deemed appropriate within the circumstances.
