A case is prepared for transfer in the following manner:
(a) The district director shall furnish each of the parties or their
representatives with a copy of a prehearing statement form.
(b) Each party shall, within 21 days after receipt of such form,
complete it and return it to the district director and serve copies on
all other parties. Extensions of time for good cause may be granted by
the district director.
(c) Upon receipt of the completed forms, the district director,
after checking them for completeness and after any further conferences
that, in his or her opinion, are warranted, shall transmit them to the
Office of the Chief Administrative Law Judge by letter of transmittal
together with all available evidence which the parties intend to submit
at the hearing (exclusive of X-rays, slides and other materials not
suitable for mailing which may be offered into evidence at the time of
hearing); the materials transmitted shall not include any
recommendations expressed or memoranda prepared by the district director
pursuant to Sec. 702.316.
(d) If the completed pre-hearing statement forms raise new or
additional issues not previously considered by the district director or
indicate that material evidence will be submitted that could reasonably
have been made available to the district director before he or she
prepared the last memorandum of conference, the district director shall
transfer the case to the Office of the Chief Administrative Law Judge
only after having considered such issues or evaluated such evidence or
both and having issued an additional memorandum of conference in
conformance with Sec. 702.316.
(e) If a party fails to complete or return his or her pre-hearing
statement form within the time allowed, the district director may, at
his or her discretion, transmit the case without that party's form.
However, such transmittal shall include a statement from the district
director setting forth the circumstanes causing the failure to include
the form, and such party's failure to submit a pre-hearing statement
form may, subject to rebuttal at the formal hearing, be considered by
the administrative law judge, to the extent intransigence is relevant,
in subsequent rulings on motions which may be made in the course of the
formal hearing.
(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number
1215-0085)
(Pub. L. No. 96-511)
[42 FR 42551, Aug. 23, 1977, as amended at 49 FR 18295, Apr. 30, 1984]
