WASHINGTON-California specialized mobile radio operator James A. Kay Jr. has lost his 18-month battle against the Federal Communications Commission, at least for the time being. According to a May 31 summary decision handed down by the FCC’s Administrative Law Judge Richard L. Sippel, Kay will be forced to give up 152 Part 90 licenses in the Los Angeles area along with being liable for a $75,000 fine. He is expected to appeal the decision.
“It is concluded that Kay has willfully violated and since January 31, 1994, has been in continuous violation [of the Communications Act and certain commission rules] that therefore Kay is not qualified to remain a commission licensee, and that the licenses held by Kay must be revoked,” the judge decided. “It is further concluded that Kay’s repeated refusals to fully respond to [an FCC interrogatory] is a grave abuse of the commission’s processes, which warrants license revocation.”
The summary decision, requested by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau last December, affirmed the bureau’s findings that Kay’s lack of complete recordkeeping was not an excuse for noncompliance and that commission efforts to gather information regarding Kay’s channel loading was “stonewalled” during the discovery stage. One of Kay’s mistakes, noted in the decision, was to state that “there [was] no date which would be convenient” to provide requested information.
“The commission has instructed its mobile licensees that they must be prepared to furnish information on loading when required for compliance,” Sippel wrote.
Calls to Kay and to his attorneys were not returned.
