WASHINGTON-As expected, Los Angeles specialized mobile radio operator James Kay, with whom the Federal Communications Commission has had a running dispute over 152 licenses since 1994, has petitioned the agency to “reverse and remand” a recent summary judgment against him. Kay has asked for a “full evidentiary hearing” with “an unbiased administrative law judge.”
Kay said in a written statement, “I did not have my day in court or due process. It was a classic case of David and Goliath*…*If allowed to stand, this decision will rob me of my livelihood and deprive me of a successful business I worked hard to build.”
On May 31, FCC Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel revoked the licenses in question and assessed a $75,000 fine on Kay. In his July 1 filing, Kay reiterated that he never was allowed to present “any evidence in support of his case,” that the judge relied on unsworn testimony presented by FCC staff, and that Kay’s sworn affidavits were not taken into consideration.
In addition, Kay claimed he was forced to produce loading documents even though FCC requirements for such paperwork “had been abandoned years ago” as an “unnecessary regulatory burden.” He also was worried about confidentiality. Even though he turned over both paper and database records to the commission, Kay asserted that “the Bureau has continued to insist on historical loading records*…*[which] do not exist and rather than document production, the Bureau is asking Kay to manufacture information that he would be unable to swear was accurate and correct. This is not what discovery was meant to require.”
Kay also said it was his practice to purge stored information on a regular basis, and that many of his records were destroyed during the January 1994 Northridge, Calif., earthquake.
Finally, the “improper and excessive” monetary forfeiture was a result of Judge Sippel’s “deep-rooted animosity” for Kay, the petitioner concluded, even though Kay “did not act in a willful or repeated way to violate the commission’s rules.”
The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau will respond to Kay’s filing this week, and the commission will evaluate both documents. According to staff, the FCC could affirm or deny all or part of Judge Sippel’s ruling along with accommodating Kay’s request for oral arguments. No decision is expected until this fall.
“I started out repairing radios two decades ago, and I am proud to have lived the American dream,” Kay’s statement said. “The FCC should not be allowed to take that dream away.”
