PacBell Gets Divergent Decisions in Abuse Case

State regulators issued two sharply different new decisions late Thursday in a high-stakes marketing abuse case against Pacific Bell, which in December was ordered to pay as much as $44 million in penalties for using misleading and illegal practices to boost sales. Josiah Neeper, a member of the state Public Utilities Commission, issued a proposed decision that clears PacBell of all sales abuse allegations and eliminates the penalties called for in the judge’s earlier decision. Meanwhile, the presiding officer on the case modified the December ruling to increase the PacBell penalties by $5 million to $49 million. If that decision stands, it would rank as one of the PUC’s largest penalty cases. The two opposing tentative decisions, triggered by an appeal from PacBell, were released late Thursday and made public Friday. They are set for a vote by the full five-member commission on Aug. 3. Consumer groups, which filed the case against PacBell in 1998 along with a PacBell labor union, appeared unfazed by Neeper’s opposition.