(a) Who may appear at the hearing? You may appear at the hearing in person or through your attorney. OCR or the agency will appear through a designated representative, which may include a USDA attorney. Any person who appears as counsel must conform to the standards of ethical conduct required of practitioners before the courts of the United States.

(b) What happens if I fail to show up? If, after having received notice of the hearing under § 15f.14, you fail to appear at the hearing without good cause, you will have waived your right to a hearing in the proceeding and the ALJ may proceed to issue a final determination based on the written record as provided for under § 15f.16.

(c) Which party presents its case first at the hearing? You, as the complainant, will proceed first at the proceeding, unless otherwise determined by the ALJ.

(d) What kind of evidence will be admitted and how will it be handled?—(1) In general. The hearing will be conducted by the ALJ in the manner he or she determines most likely to obtain the facts relevant to the matter or matters at issue. The ALJ may confine the presentation of facts and evidence to pertinent matters and exclude irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence, information, or questions. Each party will have the opportunity to present oral and documentary evidence, oral testimony of witnesses, and arguments in support of the party's position; controvert evidence relied on by any other party; and question all witnesses. The testimony of witnesses at a hearing will be on oath or affirmation and will be subject to cross-examination. Any evidence may be received by the ALJ without regard to whether that evidence could be admitted in judicial proceedings. Upon a finding of good cause, the ALJ may order that any witness be examined separately and apart from all other witnesses except those who may be parties to the proceeding.

(2) Objections. (i) If a party objects to the admission of any evidence or to the limitation of the scope of any examination or cross-examination or to any other ruling of the ALJ, the party must state briefly the grounds of such objection.

(ii) Only objections made before the ALJ may subsequently be relied upon in the proceeding.

(3) Depositions. The deposition of any witness will be admitted in the manner provided in and subject to the provisions of § 15f.18(c) of these rules.

(4) Exhibits. Unless the ALJ finds that the furnishing of copies is impracticable, two copies of each exhibit must be filed with the ALJ. A party submitting an exhibit must provide every other party (except interested parties) a copy of the exhibit one week before the hearing. A true copy of an exhibit may be substituted for the original.

(5) Official records or documents. An official government record or document or entry therein, if admissible for any purpose, will be admissible in evidence without the production of the person who made or prepared the same, and will be prima facie evidence of the relevant facts stated therein. Such record or document must be evidenced by an official publication thereof or a copy certified by a person having legal authority to make such certification.

(6) Official notice. Official notice will be taken of such matters as are judicially noted by the courts of the United States and of any other matter of technical, scientific, or commercial fact of established character if the parties are given adequate notice of matters so noticed, and the parties will be given adequate opportunity to show that such facts are erroneously noticed.

(7) Offer of proof. Whenever evidence is excluded by the ALJ, the party offering such evidence may make an offer of proof, which must be included in the transcript. The offer of proof should consist of a brief statement describing the evidence excluded. If the evidence consists of a brief oral statement, it must be included in the transcript in its entirety. If the evidence consists of an exhibit, it must be marked for identification and inserted in the hearing record.

(8) Interlocutory review. Interlocutory review of rulings by the ALJ will not be permitted.

(9) Transcript or recording. (i) Hearings to be conducted by telephone will be recorded verbatim by electronic recording device. Hearings conducted by audio-visual telecommunication or by the personal attendance of parties and witnesses must be transcribed, unless the ALJ finds that recording the hearing verbatim would expedite the proceeding and the ALJ orders the hearing to be recorded verbatim. The ALJ must certify that to the best of his or her knowledge and belief any recording made pursuant to this paragraph with exhibits that were accepted into evidence is the record of the hearing.

(ii) If a hearing is recorded verbatim, a party requests the transcript of a hearing or part of a hearing, and the ALJ determines that the disposition of the proceeding would be expedited by a transcript of the hearing or part of a hearing, the ALJ shall order the verbatim transcription of the recording as requested by the party.

(iii) The costs of transcription or verbatim recordings will be paid for by USDA and charged to the agency whose action gave rise to the complaint at issue. Copies of recordings or transcripts of hearings will be made available to any party at the actual cost of duplication.