La. Admin. Code tit. 46 § LXX-12901

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section LXX-12901 - Hearing Panel and Hearing Master Authority

A. Except as otherwise provided, hearings will be conducted by the Commission, Hearing Panel or Hearing Master. The Hearing Panel and Hearing Master shall have authority to:

1. administer oaths and hold hearings;

2. issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses at depositions and hearings;

3. issue subpoenas for the production of documents and other evidence at deposition and hearings.;

4. enforce subpoenas whenever any person summoned neglects or refuses to obey such summons, or to produce documents or other evidence, or to give testimony, as required;

5. schedule status conferences and prehearing conferences for the purpose of defining issues, setting hearing dates and prehearing deadlines, and for addressing such matters as the Hearing Master deems appropriate;

6. schedule and regulate the course of hearings, maintain decorum, and exclude from hearings any person engaging in contemptuous conduct or otherwise disrupting the proceedings;

7. grant filing extensions and hearing continuances;

8. compel discovery and impose sanctions for failure to comply with discovery rules and orders;

9. rule upon amendments to pleadings;

10 examine witnesses;

11. fix fees and mileage of witnesses;

12. make evidentiary rulings, including the qualification of expert witnesses;

13. accept testimony and exhibits into evidence;

14. take official notice of (a) proceedings, determinations, order, or other actions before or by the Commission, (b) judicially cognizable facts not subject to reasonable dispute that are generally known within the jurisdiction of the Commission or capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accurate cannot reasonably be questioned, and (c) generally recognized technical or scientific facts within the Commission's specialized knowledge. Parties shall be provided reasonable notice either before or during the hearing of the material noticed, including any staff memoranda or data, and they shall be afforded an opportunity to contest the material so noticed;

15. direct the presentation or submission into the record of evidence or testimony not otherwise presented or submitted by any party to the proceeding, subject to objection by any party;

16. require the filing of memoranda of law and the presentation of oral argument with respect to any question of law or application of law to facts upon which a ruling is required;

17. require the filing of proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law;

18. receive offers of proof;

19. prepare final recommendations;

20. render interlocutory rulings upon all motions, exceptions, and other preliminary matters filed by the parties;

21. recess any hearing from day to day.

B. If a member of the Hearing Panel or the Hearing Master dies, becomes disabled or withdraws or is removed from employment of the case at any time before the final decision thereof, the Commission may appoint another Hearing Panel member or Hearing Master, who may perform any function remaining to be performed without the necessity of repeating any proceedings theretofore had in the case.

La. Admin. Code tit. 46, § LXX-12901

Promulgated by the Office of the Governor, Pilotage Fee Commission, LR 32:623 (April 2006).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 49:967 and Pilotage Fee Commission Rule 60.