DMM Help: Guide to Classification of Documents

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DMM Help: Guide to Classification of Documents

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Classifications Overview

Below you will find a list of how documents are classified in the DPS Document and Matter Management system (DMM) with description and/or examples. Note: the examples are listed as useful guidance and do not represent an exhaustive list.

To find a term on this page use keyboard shortcuts Control/Ctrl and F (Windows), or Command and F (Mac). On a smart phone or table, tap on the share icon and choose "Find on/in page."

A-F Classifications

Affidavits of Service

A notarized document that certifies service of documents.

  • Affidavit of newspaper publication

 

Appeals or Motions for Leave to Appeal

  • Notice of expedited appeal pursuant to Article VIII
  • Notice of appeal pursuant to Article VIII
  • Motion for permission to appeal pursuant to Article VIII

 

Application

  • Article VIII application exhibits
  • Article VIII application appendix
  • Article VIII application maps and figures

 

Applicant Statement of Issues

  • Article VIII applicant statement of issues 

 

Attachments

Due to the file size of certain documents, it is necessary to break them into manageable pieces for posting to the website. Going forward the category "Attachment" will no longer be used. A submission with attachments will remain intact. For example, all pieces of a petition will be categorized as "Petition" and described accordingly, such as Attachment 1 to petition, Attachment 2 to petition, etc.

 

Briefs

Examples:

  • Brief on exception
  • Initial brief
  • Reply brief
  • Reply brief on exceptions
  • Post-hearing brief (and reply)
  • Letter in lieu of brief
  • Memorandum of law (Cover letter included with filed document)

 

Comments

Note: Comments from the general public, including letters and emails, whether or not specifically solicited through a formal notice, are filed under the “Public Comments” tab on DMM. The “comments” referred to here are typically longer, formal documents filed by parties in Commission proceedings under a “notice and comment” process that may be used instead of or in addition to evidentiary hearings. Examples:

  • Comments and Reply comments from active parties
  • Comments on Staff White Paper (Cover letter included with filed document)

Note that in Article VII proceedings, this category is not used.

 

Complaints

  • Comments and Reply comments from active parties
  • Comments on Staff White Paper (Cover letter included with filed document) Also:
  • Complaints by a telecom carrier against another telecom carrier
  • Complaints against a utility by a competitor

See Note under “Petition” about classification of initial documents in a formal case.

 

Consumer Complaint Determination

The Commission’s determination on a consumer complaint.

 

Correspondence

  • General correspondence to or from Secretary or ALJ regarding procedural matters
  • Correspondence between Secretary or an ALJ, on the one hand, and active parties, on the other hand, regarding procedural or substantive matters, that do not fit into other categories such as “motion” or “ruling,” e.g., questions sent to parties regarding a filing or to be answered at an upcoming hearing. See Note 3 below.
  • Requests for party status (for Article VIII proceeding, see “petition for party status” below)

See Notes regarding correspondence.

  • Note 1:  Comments from the general public, including letters and emails, whether or not specifically solicited through a formal notice, are filed under the “Public Comments” tab on DMM and not as “correspondence” under the “Filed Documents” tab.
  • Note 2:  Cover letters accompanying filed documents are filed with the accompanying document and not as correspondence.  One exception to the general rule of filing cover letters with their accompanying document is that, in the case of a new filing that serves to begin a formal case, the initial document, generally a cover letter, is classified as a “petition” for the purpose of generating a case number.  See NOTE under “petition.”
  • Note 3:  Communications from an ALJ or the Secretary that establish procedural requirements such as scheduling milestones or documents to be filed are “Rulings” and filed as such, even if they take the form of informal correspondence.  ALJs and the Secretary will endeavor to identify such documents as rulings.
  • Note 4:  Motions or briefs or responses or replies to same submitted by active parties in the form of letters are classified as motions or briefs; authors of such letters should clearly identify their character in the subject line or first sentence of the letter.

 

Decision

Decisions of the Executive Director issued pursuant to Article VIII

 

Declaratory Ruling

  • Formal document issued by the Commission pursuant to Part 8 of Commission’s Rules, 16 NYCRR Part 8
  • Declaratory ruling issued by the Executive Director pursuant to Article VIII

 

Guidance Documents/Policy Statements

Formal document issued by commission.

 

Exhibits

  • Pre-filed Exhibits
  • Hearing Exhibits (marked and/or moved into evidence at hearing)

G-L Classifications

Joint Proposals and Stipulations

  • Joint Proposal
  • Settlement agreement
  • Summary of Joint Proposal or Settlement Agreement
  • Statement in Support of Settlement Agreement or Joint Proposal
  • Statement in Opposition to Settlement Agreement or Joint Proposal
  • Further Responses/Replies to Statements in Support of or Opposition to Settlement Agreements or Joint Proposals
    (Cover letter included with filed document)

 

Letter

  • Letter from the Secretary that has legal significance, for example:
    • Letter from the Secretary in an Article VII case that an application is or is not deemed complete and filed
    • Letter from Secretary denying petition for rehearing as failing to meet the standard for rehearing in rules
    • Letter from Secretary dismissing an interlocutory appeal as failing to establish extraordinary circumstances
  • Letter from Office Director under delegated authority, e.g., granting CPCNs, tariff approvals, or cable temporary operating authority
  • Letter from Office Director establishing requirements or calling for filings
  • Letter from Office Director notifying applicant of approval by operation of law

Note 1: This category is reserved for outgoing letters issuing from the Commission or the Department of Public Service and is not used for incoming correspondence.
Note 2: This category does not include general public correspondence from the Secretary in response to a letter sent to the Commission, where no further action is expected of the recipient.  See “Correspondence” category, above.

M-R Classifications

Maps and Figures (Except for Article VIII Applications)

  • Maps
  • Diagrams
  • Photos

 

Memorandum

Filed memorandum that has been considered by Commission at a formal session.

 

Memorandum and Resolution

Relates exclusively to hard rulemaking procedures.

 

Motions

  • Formal requests for a ruling or order
  • Motions addressed to ALJ or to Secretary
  • Motions addressed to the Executive Director pursuant to Article VIII
  • Responses or replies related to Motions
  • Letter motions
  • Motion or Request for trade secret protection or confidential treatment
  • Motion or Request for protective order
  • Request or motion for extension of time
  • Motion for Interlocutory Review/ Interlocutory Appeal (NOTE: not Article VIII; see Appeals or Motions for Leave to Appeal above)
  • Response to interlocutory appeal
  • Motion or Request for oral arguments
  • Motion to dismiss
  • Motion to strike
  • Motion to compel discovery
  • Motion or request for hearing
  • Motion to recuse
  • Request for award of local agency account funding pursuant to Article VIII
    (Cover letter included with filed document)

 

Municipal Statement of Local Law Compliance

Statement of compliance with local laws and regulations pursuant to Article VIII

 

Notices

  • Notice of hearing, public statement hearing, or procedural conference
  • Notice Soliciting Comments
  • Notice of Suspension or Postponement of Tariff
  • Combined notice of availability of draft permit conditions or statement of intent to deny, public comment period and public comment hearing, and commencement of issues determination procedure issued pursuant to Article VIII

 

Orders

  • Order
  • Approved as Recommended and So Ordered memorandum
  • Special Permission Order
  • Commission Memorandum, Order and Resolution
  • Amending Order
  • Confirming Order
  • Postponement Order
  • Single Commissioner Order
  • Suspension Order
  • Further Suspension Order
  • Show Cause Order

 

Permit

  • Article VIII draft siting permit
  • Article VIII final siting permit
  • Summary and assessment of public comments issued pursuant to Article VIII

 

Petitions

  • Petition
  • Response to petition
  • Initial Filings in any formal case (See Note below)
  • Petition for approval or arbitration of an interconnection agreement
  • Petition under Article VII to construct transmission facilities
  • Petition for franchise under PSL 68
  • Petition for a certificate of public convenience and necessity
  • Amendments to petitions, including those under Articles VII and IX, CPCNs, etc.
  • Petition for approval for transfers of assets, merger, corporate reorganization
  • Petition for approval of financing, stock issuance
  • Petition for approval or renewal of cable franchise
  • Request for temporary operating authority (cable)
  • Petition for authority to use deferral accounting
  • Petition regarding distribution of refund under PSL 113(2)
  • Petition for declaratory ruling
  • Petition for reconsideration
  • Petition for rehearing
  • Petition to amend order
  • Petition for clarification
    (Cover letter generally included with filed document – but see Note below)

Note: For purposes of generating a new case number, the initial document of a new matter is classified as a “petition,” regardless of how that document would otherwise be classified. Often a cover letter serves this purpose. E.g., the cover letter that accompanies tariff amendments and testimony in a rate case is classified as a “petition” to trigger the assignment of a case number.

 

Petition for Party Status

  • Petition for full- or amicus-party status pursuant to Article VIII
  • Late-filed petition for party status pursuant to Article VIII

 

Plans and Proposals

  • Generally filed in compliance with a specific order, ruling, regulation, permit, or certificate
    (Cover letter included with filed document)

 

Press Release

Commission News published and provided by the Department’s Public Affairs Office.

 

Protective Order

Protective Acknowledgements

 

Recommended Decisions

  • Includes comments on Recommended Decisions

 

Reports

  • Staff White Paper
  • Annual Report
  • Report submitted in compliance with a specific order, permit, or certificate
  • Report required to be filed by regulation
    (Cover letter included with filed document)

 

Resource Determination

  • State-regulated wetland jurisdictional determination
  • NYS threatened or endangered species take determination

 

Rulings

  • Ruling on procedure or schedule
  • Ruling on motion, granting motion, denying motion
  • Ruling adopting a protective order
  • Ruling on issues and party status issued pursuant to Article VIII
  • Ruling awarding local agency account funding issued pursuant to Article VIII
  • ALJ order of disposition issued pursuant to Article VIII
  • Trade secret determinations by Records Access Officer or ALJ
  • Secretary’s decision on appeal of trade secret ruling
  • Executive Director’s decision on appeal of trade secret ruling in Article VIII proceeding
  • Letter from the Secretary giving one or more parties more time to file comments or briefs or modifying page limits.

S-Z Classifications

Tariffs

  • Cover letter (but see Note under “Petition”)
  • Compliance tariff
  • Initial tariff filing (but see Note under “Petition”)
  • Original tariff
  • Revised tariff filing
  • Supplement - Adoption
  • Supplement - Cancellation
  • Supplement - Postponement
  • Supplement - Suspension
  • Supplement - Terminate Suspension
  • Supplement - Vacate Suspension
  • Statement
  • Addenda

 

Testimony

(All testimony in this category is pre-filed testimony. Once it is entered onto the record at a hearing, it is reflected instead in the “transcript” document.)

  • Direct testimony
  • Rebuttal testimony
  • Responsive testimony
  • Surrebuttal testimony
    (Includes Confidential testimony)
    (Cover letter generally included with filed document, but see Note under “Petition”)

 

Transcripts

Stenographer’s record of:

  • Commission sessions
  • Evidentiary hearings
  • Procedural conferences, public statement and public comment hearings
  • Technical conferences
  • Prehearing conferences 
    (including confidential information, usually segregated in a separate document)

 

Workpapers