text:
Correspondence to: Sushil Ghimire , Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
Cite this paper: Sushil Ghimire , Gyan Bahadur Thapa , Ram Prasad Ghimire , Sergei Silvestrov , A Survey on Queueing Systems with Mathematical Models and Applications, American Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 7 No. 1, 2017, pp. 1-14. doi: 10.5923/j.ajor.20170701.01.
Queueing theory is one of the branches of applied mathematics which studies and models the waiting lines. Danish mathematician A. K. Erlang (1878–1929), who published his first paper entitled “The Theory of Probability and Conversations” in 1909 , is considered as the father of queueing theory. Further going back to the history, it can be observed that a viable queueing theory was developed by French Mathematician S. D. Poisson (1781–1840), who created a probability distribution function for the total outcomes of independent trials. He used statistical approach for these distributions which can be applied to the situations where excessive demands are to be fulfilled on a limited resource. During the late 1800s, all telephone calls used to be switched manually to the recipient by an operator. Each customer used to call the operator first and the operator used to fix the call for the customer. In this process, telephone companies were facing problem to appoint more operators. Callers who were unable to reach to an operator may simply hung up for several minutes with frustration and might think that it was a busy time for the operators. On the other hand, some would be waiting their turn to talk to the operator. And some others would call repeatedly thinking that the operator would be sufficiently annoyed by repeated calls to serve them next. These type of behaviour of the customers caused problems for traffic engineers because they affected the level of demand for service from an operator. A call which was not reached to the operator could be lost and could be effectively out of the system. To overcome this situation and to reduce the number of switchboards in an area, the most important application of queuing theory was developed. Those callers who repeatedly try for the operator increased demands on the system by appearing several requests. Poisson's formula was meant only for the repeated callers. Kendell  presented a paper that opened a general review of some points in congestion theory to enhance the study for a single server queue where input is Poisson and service time is generally distributed. In , he further extended the study of the stochastic processes for the theory of queues and their analysis by the method of the imbedded Markov chain. The study was carried out first reviewing on single-server queues and using the similar technique to the analysis of many server queuing system.
Stochastic process is a key factor to specify in queueing systems because it describes the arrival pattern as well as the structure and the discipline of the service facility. Queueing system deals with queue length and waiting times. The concept of queue is applied not only in the waiting system by the human beings but also in modern technology of computer and other service providers by the devices. In general, it is not necessary that service will be immediately available to address the demand of all the customers, so that they are forced to line up. In the queueing system, the one who demands the service is referred as customer, which may be a person, a task or a commodity. The other element of the queueing system is the one who provides the service with some defined discipline, called the server. It may be people, machine or objects. Some of the service disciplines are first come first served (FCFS), last come first served (LCFS), service in random order (SIRO), priority, processor sharing (PS), round-robin (RR). We study performance measures of a queueing system where only the limited number of customers are served and arrival or service or both occur in a batch. If any of the customers come after the prescribed quota has already been served, the server does not provide the service to the new comer.
The main goal of this study is to present and analyse measures of performance effectiveness for some specific queuing models. The models we investigate have important applications in the study of machine repair problem, tele-traffic, computer and flexible manufacturing systems, production processes, transportation, monitoring, controlling and managing complex engineering systems that have finite buffer system. Transient study makes the problem more realistic. The situations considered are also applicable to various day-to-day activities. It has been attracting the attention of mathematicians and operations research scientists in the field of social and liberal globalization of economy. The study provides a prospect to the development of research and design in related fields.
Rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the state of arts of the queueing system and associated theories developed by various researchers. Section 3 describes the different components of queueing system along with the standard notations used in queueing models. Some of the mathematical formulae for different queueing models and the derivation of simple Markovian queue are explained in Section 4. Section 5 includes Little’s law with its use for the calculation of performance measures in queueing systems. Some applications of queueing models in supply chain management are observed in Section 6. Finally, Section 7 concludes the paper.
In many practical situations, customers arrive following a Poisson stream which is an exponential inter-arrival times. Customers perform different nature coming alone or in a batch. Some are silent and wait in the queue for a long time whereas some are impatient and do not bother to leave after a while. We have noticed in our daily life also that customers wait even for a long time in the call centres until an operator is available. In spite of the different nature of customers, there are some common features on which a queue depends, namely service times, service discipline and the number of servers. These are the key factors to determine a queue. In many cases, we assume that there is an independent service time which is identically distributed with the provision of independent inter-arrival times. Among different types of queueing system, our focus is mainly on the finite capacity and batch queueing system. In finite capacity queueing system, a fixed number of customers are served and in batch queueing system, arrival and service can take place in a bulk. On top of this, we report some of the literatures in the following.
Kovalenko  studied rare events during busy periods along with some useful rare event theorems and singular state aggregation theorems presenting some analysis and numerical methods. Cohen and Boxma  gathered the information of queuing theory from its origin up to the maturity as a branch of mathematics in the field of Operations Research to calculate the performance measures. Hui  investigated a survey in china for five main areas namely transient behaviour, classical problems, approximation theory, model structure and applications. Fomundam and Herrmann  reported a survey of queuing theory application in healthcare focusing on the area of waiting time and utilization analysis, system design, and appointment systems. Lade et al.  used simulation of queueing system in hospitals to predict the parameters like total waiting time, average waiting time of patients, average queue length and to decrease the waiting time of patients. Shanthikumar et al.  carried out a survey paper on queueing theory which is applicable for semiconductor manufacturing systems. They put their efforts to improve the model assumptions and model input, mainly in averages and the variations of products. Jackson and Adelson  dealt with the calculation of customer characteristics in some simple cases to explain the literature for complex and practical queueing systems.
Jouini and Dallery  considered Markovian multi-server queue with a finite waiting line in which a customer may decide to give up for service if waiting time in queue exceeds its random deadline. They focused on the performance measures in terms of the probability of being served under both transient and stationary behaviours. Karaesmen et al.  examined a finite buffered queue in which the queue length is controlled by low and high service rates with higher operating cost for faster service rate. Moreover, holding cost for waiting customers to proceed and setup costs for the change in service rate were included along with some numerical examples for the validity of the model. Laxmi and Suchitra  studied finite buffer N-policy GI/M(n)/1 queue with Bernoulli-schedule vacation interruption, where server takes a vacation and works with a slower rate if there are less than N customers waiting for service. They used supplementary variable technique and recursive method to obtain the steady state system length distributions at pre-arrival and arbitrary epochs. Kwon  dealt queueing network model for the performance analysis of a flexible manufacturing system composed of workstations with limited buffers. Performance measures were developed and numerical examples were presented to verify the effectiveness of the approximation algorithm used in the model. Chakravarthy  illustrated numerical examples using matrix-analytic method of multi-server queueing model in which one sever is considered as the main server. The main server is connected to the other servers to provide the consultation on the FCFS basis. Ghimire and Basnet  studied finite capacity queueing system under the provision of vacation and service breakdown for the calculation of queue length and waiting time distributions. Yang and Wu  considered M/M/1/N queue with server subject to breakdowns and repairs during the time of operation where server works at a lower service rate even at the failure times. They computed transient state probabilities and some system performance measures using fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. Kaczynski et al.  put their effort to study M/M/s queue with initially presented k customers for the exact distribution of nth customer’s sojourn time. Algorithms for computing the covariance between sojourn times for an M/M/1 queue with k customers present at time zero was developed using maple computer code.
Some researchers have studied and proposed some mathematical models for the nature of customers as well. Shin and Choo  considered an M/M/s queue in which balking and reneging customers join the virtual pool of customers called orbit. Probabilities of joining the orbit by balking and reneging customers was determined by the number of customers in the service facility. Some numerical examples were also presented to validate the results. Al-Seedy et al.  applied generating function technique for transient solution of system in an M/M/c queue having fixed probability for balking customers and a negative exponential distribution for reneging customers. Ayyappan et al.  studied single server batch service of size k considering Poisson arrival rate λ, exponential service distribution μ and Poisson catastrophe rate v to calculate the mean and variance of all the parameters described in the model. Choudhury and Medhi  analysed reneging behaviour where each customer is assumed to follow identical distribution of patience time ignoring the real life situations. They attempted to model a reneging property along with balking behaviour. Ghimire and Ghimire  dealt M/M/1 queue with heterogeneous arrival and departure with the provision of server vacations and breakdowns to evaluate some performance measures using generating function method. Atencia and Moreno  analysed a discrete-time Geo/G/1 retrial and without retrial queue to calculate the measure of the proximity between the system size and marginal distributions when the server is idle, busy or down. Ammar  obtained explicit solution of multi-server transient queue with balking and reneging behaviour of customers using similar technique of  along with the calculation of steady-state probabilities and some important performance measures. Gong and Li  developed a maximum system utility optimization model considering customer’s psychology to study the impact on their patience and rejection behaviour in a queue. They used a probability function to describe the change of customer’s psychology and rejection behaviour. Li and Cheng  dealt with infinite capacity queueing systems with two parallel servers having generally distributed service times where customer joined the shortest queue in the Poisson fashion. For both the queues of equal length, new arrival could join any of them with equal probability without jockeying. Shanmugasundaram and Banumathi  analysed multi-server queueing system using Monte-Carlo simulation to find the future behaviour of railways to reduce the queue length and system length, queue time and system time with some numerical examples.
There are some queues for which arrival and service depend on time. Those queues are known as transient queues. Singla and Garg  studied a feedback queueing system with correlated transient departures and calculated the transient-state queue length probabilities using Laplace Transform of the generating function. Zeng et al.  investigated transient M/Ek/n queuing model for the evaluation of queue length and the average waiting time of the railway container terminal gate system, as well as the optimal number of service channels during the different time period. Chan et al.  applied iterative and Crank–Nicolson pre-conditioner method to solve the system of linear equations for the transient solutions of M/M/2 queueing systems with two heterogeneous servers under a variant vacation policy. Jiang et al.  proposed free flow, slow flow and jam flow vehicle velocities in which the transitions between slow and jam flow are controlled by the duration of slow flow queues. They revealed the fact that convective instability of queueing model could generate oscillation features. Ghimire et al.  calculated the performance evaluations of multi-server M(t)/M(t)/n/n queuing system subject to breakdowns under transient frame work without accepting the queue of the waiting customers and verified the results using simulation. Tan et al.  studied transient arrival finite capacity queue where arrival rate slowly varies with time for the large capacity Probability of number of customers and mean number of customers in the system at time was calculated using asymptotic approximations approach. Kempa  derived explicit formulae for the queue size distribution of a finite-buffer GI/M/1/N transient queueing model. He calculated transient queue-size distribution convergence rate to the stationary distribution for the constant value given explicitly. Malligarjunan  evaluated performance measures and total expected cost rate for a single server queueing system under transient behaviour and entropy measures on an inventory system with two demand classes. Selinka et al.  developed a stationary backlog-carryover approach to compare the numerical results with simulations applicability in an analytical solution for a time-dependent performance evaluation of truck handling operations at an air cargo terminal. Ausina et al.  chose a single server queueing system in which Bayesian inference for the transient behaviour and duration of a busy period with general, unknown distributions for the inter-arrival and service times has been investigated.
Batch or bulk arrival and service facility is the another area of research in queueing theory. Chang and Choi  studied finite-buffer discrete-time GeoX/GY/1/K+B queue with multiple vacations that has a wide range of applications including high-speed digital telecommunication system and various related areas presenting some performance analysis. Goswami and Laxmi  dealt a single server infinite or finite buffer bulk-service queues considering arbitrary inter-arrival and exponential service time distribution. The customers were served by a single server in accessible or non-accessible batches of maximum size ‘b’ with a minimum threshold value ‘a’. Ghimire et al.  established a bulk queueing model with the fixed batch size ‘b’ and obtained the expressions for mean waiting time in the queue, mean time spent in the system, mean number of customers/work pieces in the queue and in the system by using generating function method. Singh et al.  investigated retrial queue with bulk arrivals and unreliable servers providing m-optional services to observe the validity of performance measures and the effect of parameters for the queue size distribution. Banergee et al.  studied a single server bulk service finite capacity queue for the calculation of joint distribution of the random variables at various epochs in which service times depend on the batch size customers following Markovian arrival process. Luo et al.  dealt with a ﬁnite buffer GeoX/G//1/N queue for the observation of queue-length distributions at departure, arbitrary, pre-arrival epochs with single working vacation and different input rates combining two techniques of supplementary variable and embedded Markov chain method. Claeys et al.  analysed a versatile batch-service queueing model with correlation in the arrival process along with some performance evaluation and buffer management.
If any customer is willing to get a service, s/he should check whether a server is idle or not. If the server is vacant, customer gets the service immediately. However, if at least one customer is waiting for the service in front of each of the servers, then the new arrival should line up. Figure 1 represents the basic queueing model where the procedure of a simple queueing system is shown.
From the time someone starts standing in a queue until getting served, there are certain steps to follow. These steps are called the components of a queue which are characterized by the arrival process of customers, behaviour of customers, service times, service discipline and service capacity. These components are briefly described in the followings.
The inter-arrival times are assumed to be independent having a common distribution. In many practical situations, customers arrive according to a Poisson stream (i.e. exponential inter-arrival times). Customers may arrive one by one or in batches. An example of batch arrivals is the customs office at the border where travel documents of passengers are to be checked.
Customers may be patient and willing to wait for the service after some times or may be impatient and leave after a while. The behaviour of customers who leave the queue realizing that they have to wait longer than they have expected is called balking. There are some customers who leave the queue feeling that they are tired of waiting in the queue. This type of customers’ behaviour is called reneging. There is another behaviour of customers who re-join the queue which they had left earlier either by balking or by reneging, is called jockeying.
When a customer joins a queue, server takes a certain time to serve the customers. This time is called the service time which can be deterministic or exponentially distributed. It can also occur that service times are dependent of the queue length. For example, the processing rates of the machines in a production system can be increased once the number of jobs waiting to be processed becomes larger.
First Come First Served (FCFS): In this process, service is provided in the order of arrival. First comer gets the service first. Generally, this method is applied in the supermarket, billing counters and many other queuing systems. It is called First In First Out (FIFO) as well.
Service In Random Order (SIRO): This is the method in which service is provided without any fixed rule. People can be observed randomly in security checkpoints. Service provider collects data randomly for statistical studies.
Last Come First Served (LCFS): It is the another method of providing service to the customers in which the last arrival gets service at first. This method is applied in the production line where the products are kept one over the other. While selling these products, the item kept at the top is sold at first though it is placed there at last.
Priorities: There can be some customers who need the service immediately for many reasons. Those customers could be in a rush or may take shorter processing time. Some emergency cases could also be there in the doctor’s clinic and some would be ready to pay more for the quicker service.
Processor Sharing: Concept of processor sharing is specially applied in the communication system where computers divide their processing power equally over all the other computers. Number of customers can get access to the internet from a single router.
Round Robin (RR): This method can be seen mainly in cyclic queueing system in which either server or the customers move in a cycle. We have experienced a revolving dining table where customers are stationary but the server moves carrying different menu on the table.
There may be a single server or group of servers to help arrivals having limitations with respect to the number of customers. For example, in a data communication network, only finitely many cells can be buffered in a switch. The determination of good buffer size is an important issue in the design of these networks.
where denotes inter-arrival time distribution, is the service time distribution, represents the number of servers and denotes the maximum number of jobs that can be occupied in the system (waiting and in service) with infinite number of waiting positions for default. Likewise, indicates queueing discipline (FCFS, LCFS, SIRO, RR etc.) having FCFS for default, and the last notation is for population size from which customers rush to the system.
where P0 is the steady-state probability that the server is idle. and denote the mean busy period and mean idle period of the server respectively.
where and respectively denote the mean sojourn times of the chain in A and during a cycle.
where denotes service time; and are random variables and their means denoted by and , are appropriate for measuring the efficiency of the system. It is not easy in general to obtain their distribution function.
The primary aim is to get their distributions which always may not be possible. In many of the situations, we have only their mean values or their generating function.
With these, we describe some of the queueing models with their respective formulae in the following subsections.
A Birth-Death process is a Markov process in which states are numbered by an integer and transitions are only permitted between two neighbouring states. Births are the cases when state variables are increased by one and deaths are the cases when state variables are decreased by one. When birth occurs, the state N moves to state N + 1 and when the death occurs, state N changes to state N - 1.
The queueing system M/M/1 is the simplest non-trivial queue where the customers arrive according to a Poisson process with rate , that is, the inter-arrival times are independent, exponentially distributed random variables with parameter . The service times are assumed to be independent and exponentially distributed with parameter . Furthermore, all the involved random variables are supposed to be independent of each other.
The queuing system M/M/c is the queueing discipline where c service channels are ready for the arriving customers following Poisson process. and have the usual meanings with all the random variables independent as described in the subsection 4.2. Followings are some of the formulae to for the performance measures of this model.
In this model, customers arrive according to a Poisson process describing independent and exponentially distributed inter-arrival times. The service times are also assumed to be independent and exponentially distributed. The difference of this model with the previous models is the only k customers who can get the service by fixed number of c servers. Followings are the formulae for some of the performance measures of this queueing system.
Each of the proposed modes should have some kind of applications in the real life. It is important to verify those results by means of some established tools. These results are called the performance measures and are calculated by using different techniques. One of the methods to calculate these performance measures is the Little’s Law. In this Section, we briefly describe about the performance measures and the Little’s Law.
(i) Distribution of the waiting and the sojourn times: Time spent by a customer in a queue is calculated in two categories. The first is the waiting time before starting to receive the service and the second is the sojourn time which includes the waiting time plus the service time.
(ii) Distribution of the number of customers: In a single server queueing system, there will be one customer receiving the service whereas in multiple server queueing system, there could be the customers equal to the number of servers receiving the service. Number of customers in a queueing system refers to the customers including or excluding the one or all the service.
(iii) Distribution of amount of work: It is the sum of service times of the waiting customers and the residual service time of the customers in service. Residual service time signifies the time that a new arrival waits until being served in a non-empty queue.
(iv) Distribution of busy period: When customers arrive to the server for the service, the server becomes busy. Busy period of a server is the time during which server is working continuously. While calculating the performance measures, we are interested in mean performance like the mean waiting time and the mean queue length.
It may be applied to separate parts of much larger queueing systems, such as subsystems in a queueing network. In such a case, L should be defined with respect to the number of customers in a subsystem and W with respect to the total time in that subsystem. Little’s law may also refer to a specific class of customer in a queueing system or to subgroups of customers, and so on. Its range of applicability is very wide indeed.
• It is widely applicable (it requires only very weak assumptions). It will be valuable to us in checking the consistency of measurement of data.
• It is the main task in the algorithms for evaluating several queueing network models.
• In studying computer system, we frequently find two of the quantities related by Little’s law (the average number of requests in a system and the throughput of that system) and desire to know the third (the average system residence time, in this case).
• On rainy days, streets and highways are more crowded.
• Fast food restaurants need a smaller dining room than regular restaurants with the same customer arrival rate.
• Large buffering together with large arrival rate cause large delays.
Theorem 2 : In a closed Gordon-Newell network with m queues, write for the state of network. For a customer in transit to state i, let denotes the probability that immediately before arrival the customer sees the state of the system is Then the probability is same as the steady state probability for state for a network of the same type with one customer less.
• If a customer changes queue, the one s/he has left will start to move faster than the one s/he is in.
• Customer feels that her/his queue always goes the slowest.
• Whatever queue a customer joins, no matter how short it looks, will always take the longest for her/him to get served.
Queueing theory is applied in many of the daily life activities including computer networks, telecommunication systems, traffic flow systems, airport scheduling systems, banking and logistic operations and so on. Besides all these, queuing system is applied in the manufacturing industries as well. Items produced by industries have to be delivered to the retailers and then to the customers. If there is the proper chain to deliver those items, it can save time and money. Products of the industries can be delivered together in numbers but one machine can produce only one item at a time following a sequential order. Those produced items should be supplied to the wholesalers and to the retailers turn by turn maintaining a proper queue. In this sense, we can observe a close relationship between queuing system and supply chain management, which is described in rest of this Section.
where is the probability of a customer being blocked for queueing model.
Arrival rate of forward flow of product p to bidirectional facility b.
where and are the recorder quantity and recorder point at distribution centre K. Wang et al.  collected a review defining supply chain and discussing literature in the areas, namely service supply management, service demand management and the coordination of service supply chains to observe the state in each area. He  derived supply risk sharing contracts for the equilibrium between the recycling price decision and the remanufacturing quantity decision using game theory illustrating some numerical examples for managerial results. Zhalechian et al.  studied environmental impact of sustainable closed-loop location - routing -inventory model using a stochastic-probabilistic programming approach presenting some real-world applications. Sadjadi et al.  derived optimization model using queuing approach for allocation of the retailers’ demands, and inventory replenishment decisions so as to minimize the total expected cost of location, transportation and inventory. Jin  formulated link transmission model and link queue model defining demand and supply to present queuing models for a point queue and their discrete versions.
Upon observing the contributions of the researchers in the field of queueing theory, it can be noticed that plenty of works have been done pointing out many extendable areas. Change of one parameter in any of the proposed models might cause a huge change in the result of performance measures. Small change in the arrival rate may create large queue or no queue, and small change in service rate may make the customers very happy for the quick service or may have to wait for a long time. For any of the queue, time plays a vital role. It is very important how long a customer waits in the queue to get the service and how fast a server provides the service. To make the service more effective, sometimes we need to add the servers and increase the efficiency. We have seen the proposed queueing models for finite and infinite capacities. Some of the queueing models have finite capacity and some are ready to serve for any number of customers. Some are time dependent studied under transient fashion and some are used for the optimization model. We have chosen Markovian queuing model with finite number of customers for a single or multiple servers. Besides the usual and standard mathematical modelling in queueing theory, consideration of customers’ behaviours, servers’ breakdown or vacation along with the limitation in arrivals can be introduced to make the model more realistic and challenging. On the other hand, suggesting some mathematical models considering those limitations may not always be reliable, so verifying those models in the real life situations with the use of computer simulation would be a remarkable contribution in the study of queueing theory.
All the studies carried out by the researchers have several applications in the real life. These applications are specially focused for making the life easier specially by saving time and money. In this process, number of models are proposed with applications in the different areas. The other motivation is to get the maximum profit with the minimum utilization of the limited resources, called the constraints. We intend to study the conditions for the optimal solution in order to maximize the production or the benefits using those limited constraints. These basic phenomena can be applied in telecommunication, traffic control, employee allocation, computer scheduling, supermarket, hospitals and many other fields. Variations of arrival and service disciplines in a queueing problem is the challenging work to tackle in the days to come. In addition, the simultaneous study of queueing operations with manufacturing and logistics may yield some interesting interlinks. Some of the literatures are described in the former Section. Such comparative study can be applied in the real problems of the industries to optimize production and distribution operations. The detail study of the application of queueing theory in supply chain networks will be our due course.
The first author is thankful to Erasmus Mundus SmartLink project for financial support as a PhD exchange student to carry out the work in Burgas Free University, Bulgaria from Sep 2016 – Sep 2017.
The second author is thankful to the Erasmus Mundus LEADERS Project for funding him as a Post Doc Research Fellow to carry out the work in Department of Mathematics, University of Evora, Portugal from Nov 2016 – Aug 2017.
 Kendall, D. G. (1951). Some Problems in the Theory of Queues, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), 13(2), 151-185.
 Kendall, D. G. (1953). Stochastic Processes Occurring in the Theory of Queues and their Analysis by the Method of the Imbedded Markov Chain, The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 24(3), 338-354.
 Kovalenko, I. N. (1994). Rare events in queueing system - A survey, Queueing System, 16, 1-49.
 Cohen, J.W. and Boxma O.J. (1985). A survey of the evolution of queueing theory, Statistica Neerlandica, 39, 143-158.
 Hui, G. HSU (1990). A survey of queueing theory, Annals of Operations Research, 24, 29-43.
 Fomundam, S. F. and Herrmann, J. W. (2007). A survey of queuing theory applications in healthcare, The Institute for Systems Research, 24, 1-23.
 Lade, I. P., Chowriwar, S. A. and Sawaitul, P. B. (2013). Simulation of queueing analysis in hospital, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, 2(3), 122-128.
 Shanthikumar, J. G., Ding, S. and Mike Tao Zhang, M. T. (2007). Queueing theory for semiconductor manufacturing systems: A survey and open problems, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 4(4), 513-522.
 Jackson, R. R. P. and Adelson, R. M. (1962). A critical survey of queueing theory, Part 1, Operational Research Society, 13(1), 13-22.
 Jouini, O. and Dallery, Y. (2007). Monotonicity properties for multi-server queues with reneging and finite waiting lines, Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences, 21, 335-360.
 Karaesmen, F., Avram, F. and Gupta, S. M. (1997). Service control in a finite buffered queue with multiple service rates, 1-26.
 Laxmi, P. V. and Suchitra, V. (2014), Finite buffer GI/M(n)/1 queue with Bernoulli-schedule vacation interruption under -policy, International Scholarly Research Notices, 2014, Article ID 392317.
 Kwon, S. T., Performance analysis of an FMS with finite capacity buffers and single AGV"
 Chakravarthy, S. R (2014). A multi-server queueing model with server consultations, European Journal of Operational Research, 233, 625-639.
 Ghimire, R. P. and Basnet, R. (2011). Finite capacity queueing system with vacation and service breakdown, International Journal of Engineering, 24(4), 387-394.
 Yang, D. Y. and Wu, Y. Y. (2014). Transient behavior analysis of a finite capacity queue march with working breakdowns and server vacations. Proceedings of the International Multi-Conference of Engineers and Computer Scientists IMECS, Vol. II, 12-14.
 Kaczynski, W. H., Leemis, L. M. and Drew, J. H. (2012). Transient queueing analysis. INFORMS Journal on Computing, 24(1), 10-28.
 Smith, J. M. G. (2010). Properties and performance modelling of finite buffer M/G/1/K networks, Computers & Operations Research, doi:10.1016/j.cor.2010.08.014.
 Cruz, F. R. B. and Woensel, T. V. (2014). Finite queueing modelling and optimization: A selected review, Journal of Applied Mathematics, 2014, Article ID 374962.
 Yadin, M. and Naor, P. (1963). Queueing system with a removal service station, Institute of Statistics, Mimeo Series No. 353.
 Schrage, L. (1969). Analysis and optimization of a queueing model of a real-time computer control system. IEEE Transactions on Computers, C-18(11), 997-1003.
 Akyildiz, I. F. and Liu, W. (1990). Performance optimization of distributed system models with unreliable servers. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 39(2), 236-243.
 Krivulin, N. K. (1994). Recursive equations based models of queueing systems, Proc. European Simulation Symp., Istanbul, Turkey, 252-256.
 Bertsimas, D. and Mora, J. N. (1999). Optimization of multiclass queueing networks with changeover times via the achievable region approach: Part II, The multi-station case, Mathematics of Operations Research, 24(2), 331-361.
 Mishra, S. S. and Yadav, D. K. (2010). Computational approach to profit optimization of a loss-queueing system, Journal of Applied Computer Science & Mathematics, 9(4), 78-82.
 Brito, N. L. C., Duarte, A. R., Ferreira, J. H. and Cruz, F. R. B. (2012). Multi-objective optimization of finite queueing networks, International Conference on Engineering Optimization, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1-5 July 2012.
 Pesu, T. and Knottenbelt, W. J. (2015). Dynamic subtask dispersion reduction in heterogeneous parallel queueing systems, Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 318, 129-142.
 Shin, Y. W. and Choo, T. S. (2009). M/M/s queue with impatient customers and retrials, Applied Mathematical Modelling, 33, 2596-2606.
 Al-Seedy, R. O., El-Sherbiny, A. A., El-Shehawy, S. A. and Ammar, S. I. (2009). Transient solution of the M/M/c queue with balking and reneging, Computers and Mathematics with Applications, 57, 1280-1285.
 Ayyappan, G., Devipriya, G. and Subramanian, A. M. G. (2013). Transient analysis of single server queueing system with batch service under catastrophe, International Journal of Mathematical Archive, 4(5), 26-32.
 Choudhury, A. and Medhi, P. (2013). Performance evaluation of a finite buffer system with varying rates of impatience, Journal of the Turkish Statistical Association, 6(1), 42-55.
 Ghimire, R. P. and Ghimire, S. G. (2011). Heterogeneous arrival and departure M/M/1 queue with vacation and service breakdown, Management Science and Engineering, 5(3), 61-67.
 Atencia, I. and Moreno, P. (2006). A discrete-time Geo/G/1 retrial queue with the server subject to starting failures, Ann Oper Res, 141, 85-107.
 Ammar, S. I. (2013). Transient analysis of a two-heterogeneous servers queue with impatient behavior, Journal of the Egyptian Mathematical Society, 28 June, 2013.
 Gong, J. and Li, M. (2014). Queuing time decision model with the consideration on call center customer abandonment behavior, Journal of Networks, 9(9), 2441-2447.
 Li, M. and Cheng, J. (2011). Transient state analysis of the shortest queueing system, IEEE, 2011.
 Shanmugasundaram, S. and Banumathi, P. (2016). A simulation study on M/M/C queueing models, International Journal for Research in Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, 2(2), 52-61.
 Singla, N. and Garg, P. C. (2014). Transient and numerical solution of a feedback queueing system with correlated departures, American Journal of Numerical Analysis, 2(1), 20-28.
 Zeng, M., Cheng, W. and Guo, P. (2014). A transient queuing model for analyzing and optimizing gate congestion of railway container terminals, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Vol. 2014, Article ID 914706.
 Chan, R. H., Lee, S. T. and Sun, H. W. (2012). Boundary value methods for transient solutions of queueing networks with variant vacation policy, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 236, 3948-3955.
 Jiang, H., Li Z., Jiang, R., Song, J. and Li, L. (2013). Three-velocity queueing model for congested traffic flow simulation, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 96, 1389-1401.
 Ghimire, S., Ghimire, R. P. and Thapa, G. B. (2015). Performance evaluation of unreliable M(t)/M(t)/n/n queueing system, British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 7(4), 412-422.
 Tan, X., Knessl, C., Yang, Y. (P.) (2013). On finite capacity queues with time dependent arrival rates, Stochastic Processes and their Applications, 123, 2175-2227.
 Kempa, W. M. (2017). A comprehensive study on the queue-size distribution in a finite-buffer system with a general independent input flow, Performance Evaluation, 108, 1-15.
 Malligarjunan, R. (2014). Transient behavior and entropy measures on an inventory system with two demand classes, Applied Mathematics and Computation, 226, 738-753.
 Selinka, G., Franz, A. and Stolletz, R. (2016). Time-dependent performance approximation of truck handling operations at an air cargo terminal, Computers & Operations Research, 65, 164-173.
 Ausina, M. C., Wiperb, M. P and Lillob, R. E. (2014). Bayesian prediction of the transient behavior and busy period in short and long tailed GI/G/1 queueing systems, Applied Mathematical Modelling, 38, 5870-5882.
 Chang, S. H. and Choi, D. W. (2005). Performance analysis of a finite-buffer discrete-time queue with bulk arrival, bulk service and vacations, Computers & Operations Research, 32, 2213-2234.
 Goswami, V. and Laxmi, P. V. (2011). Performance analysis of a renewal input bulk service queue with accessible and non-accessible batches, Quality Technology & Quantitative Management, 8(2), 87-100.
 Ghimire, S., Ghimire, R. P. and Thapa, G. B. (2014). Mathematical models of Mb/M/1 bulk arrival queueing system, Journal of the Institute of Engineering, 10(1), 184-191.
 Singh, C. J., Jain, M. and Kumar, B. (2016). MX/G/1 unreliable retrial queue with option of additional service and Bernoulli vacation, Ain Shams Engineering Journal, 7, 415-429.
 Banergee, A., Gupta, U.C. and, Chakravarthy, S.R. (2015). Analysis of a finite-buffer bulk-service queue under Markovian arrival process with batch-size-dependent service, Computers & Operations Research, 60, 138-149.
 Luo, C., Li, W., Yu, K. and Ding, C. (2016). The matrix-form solution for GeoX/G/1/N working vacation queue and its application to state-dependent cost control, Computers & Operations Research, 67, 63-74.
 Claeys, D., Steyaert, B., Walraevens, J., Laevens, K. and Bruneel, H. (2013). Analysis of a versatile batch-service queueing model with correlation in the arrival process, Performance Evaluation, 70, 300-316.
 Sztrik, J., Basic queueing theory, University of Debrecen, Faculty of Informatics, 12-14.
 Sztrik, J. (2010). Queueing theory and its applications-a personal view, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Applied Informatics, January 27-30, 1, 9-30.
 Bhaskar, V. and Lallement, P. (2010). Modelling a supply chain using a network of queues, Applied Mathematical Modelling, 34, 2074-2088.
 Bhaskar, V. and Lallement, P. (2011). Queuing network model of uniformly distributed arrivals in a distributed supply chain using subcontracting, Decision Support Systems, 51, 65-76.
 Boulaksil, Y. (2016). Safety stock placement in supply chains with demand forecast updates, Operations Research Perspectives, 3, 27-31.
 Teimoury, E., Mazlomi, A., Nadafioun, R., Khondabi, I. G. and Fathi, M. (2011). A queuing-inventory model in multiproduct supply chains, Proceeding of the International Multi-Conference of Engineers and Computer Scientists, 3, March 16-18, 2011.
 Liu, L., Liu, X. and Yao, D. D. (2003). Analysis and optimization of a multi-stage inventory-queue system. November 10, 2003.
 Sivakumar, B., Jayaraman, R. and Arivarignan, G. (2012). A discrete time inventory system with postponed demands. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 236, 3073-3083.
 Andriansyah, R., Woensel, T. V., Cruz, F. R. B. and Duczmal, L. (2010). Performance optimization of open zero-buffer multi-server queueing networks, Computers & Operations Research, 37, 1472-1487.
 Mishra, S. S. and Yadav, D. K. (2010). Computational approach to cost and profit analysis of clocked queueing networks, Contemporary Engineering Sciences, 3(8), 365-370.
 Mary, K. J. R. and Christina, G. M. (2015). Analysis of total average cost for with fuzzy parameters using robust ranking technique, International Journal of Computer Applications, 121(24), 1-4.
 Smith, J. M. G. (2015). Queue decomposition & finite closed queueing network models, Computers & Operations Research, 53, 176-193.
 Babadi, A. Y., Moghaddam, R. T., Amiri, A. B., Seifi, S. (2017). Designing a reliable multi-Objective Queuing model of a petrochemical supply chain network under uncertainty: A case study, Computers and Chemical Engineering, 100, 177-197.
 Vahdani, B. and Mohammadi, M. (2015). A bi-objective interval-stochastic robust optimization model for designing closed loop supply chain network with multi-priority queuing system, Int. J. Production Economics, 170, 67-87.
 Diabat, A., Dehghani, E. and Jabbarzadeh, A. (2017). Incorporating location and inventory decisions into a supply chain design problem with uncertain demands and lead times, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 43, 139–149.
 Wang, Y., Wallace, S. W., Shen, B. and Choi, T. M. (2015). Service supply chain management: A review of operational models, European Journal of Operational Research, 247, 685-698.
 He, Y. (2017). Supply risk sharing in a closed-loop supply chain, Int. J. Production Economics, 183, 39–52.
 Zhalechian, M., Moghaddam, R. T., Zahiri, B. and Mohammadi M. (2016). Sustainable design of a closed-loop location-routing-inventory supply chain network under mixed uncertainty, Transportation Research Part E, 89, 182–214.
 Sadjadi, S. J., Makui, A., Dehghani, E. and Pourmohammad, M. (2016). Applying queuing approach for a stochastic location-inventory problem with two different mean inventory considerations, Applied Mathematical Modelling, 40, 578–596.
 Jin, W. L. (2015). Point queue models: A uniﬁed approach, Transportation Research Part B, 77, 1–16.

matches: V. V. V. V. V. V. V.


text:
V. Amayakyan has been in the mortgage industry for more than 15 years. During this time, he has received national top producer recognition including Top 1% Mortgage Loan Originator in America for 2015, 2016, and 2017. V. has also won Wintrust Mortgage’s President’s Circle Recognition for mortgage origination and client satisfaction from 2012 through 2017.
V. specializes in a wide range of lending including FHA, conventional, jumbo, investment properties, and condos. He credits his business success to maintaining strong relationships with realtors in the South Bay and his network of past clients. His wealth of knowledge and experience in the mortgage industry, along with his strong emphasis on client communication and satisfaction, set him apart from the competition.
Working for Wintrust Mortgage, V. has access to competitive rates as well as a vast array of mortgage products to help his clients in all 50 states. Whether it’s a refinance for a post client or a new purchase transaction, you can be confident that V. will provide excellent service, close your transaction on time, and above all, keep his clients’ best interest in mind.
V. and his team would love for the opportunity to help you with your mortgage financing needs.
"V. is exceptionally attentive and informed. I felt safe and taken care of as his advice was aligned with the opinion of resident experts in my finance department. He is an excellent representative of Wintrust."
"V. is very professional, knowledgeable, and accessible."
"V. has an abundance of patience! This was my first home loan and he answered all my questions without any exasperation- no matter how stupid they were."
"We've used V. three times in the last 10 years. We’ve been very happy with him every time."

matches: V. V. V. V. V. V.


text:
AON CORP: Still Faces Securities Fraud, ERISA Litigation in Ill.
BROWN & BROWN: Settles Insurance-Related Antitrust Suits in N.J.
ELLSWORTH COOPERATIVE: Employees File Overtime Wage Suit in Wis.
GRANDVIEW MEMORIAL: Owners, Operators Face Litigation in Ind.
JONES SODA: Glancy Binkow Files Securities Fraud Suit in Wash.
the deal by the Circuit Court of Cook County.
the income to their policyholder clients.
fiduciary or confidential obligations imposed under Illinois law.
that objected to the settlement have appealed.
quarterly period ended June 30, 2007.
antitrust and statutory theories and federal antitrust and theories.
federal court in New Jersey.
and other defendants have moved to dismiss the new complaints.
securities laws or Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
company domiciled in the State of Illinois, and Does 1 to 100, Case No.
contractors when they should have been classified as employees.
conversion and unfair business practices.
Bankers Life & Casualty Co. caused the case to be removed to the U.S.
District Court for the Central District of California on Oct. 18, 2006.
An order was entered on Nov. 20, 2006 transferring the case to the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, under Case No.
and permanent injunction and misclassification.
The suit is “Walker v. Bankers Life And Casualty Company et al., Case No.
Illinois under Judge Suzanne B. Conlon.
Directors of Beazer Homes USA are facing a class-action complaint filed Sept.
fraud class action complaint, depressing Beazer stock price.
of Delaware in and for New Castle County.
according to the company's Aug. 9, 2007 Form 10-Q Filing with the U.S.
class actions purporting to be brought on behalf of policyholders.
October and December of 2004.
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, for pre-trial purposes.
plaintiffs leave to file an amended complaint by May 22, 2007.
the Antitrust Actions and no further litigation has ensued.
seek additional information from the Company.
property, casualty and employee benefits areas.
actions filed against Choice Hotels International, Inc. in April 2007.
results of operations for the second quarter of 2006.
period ended June 30, 2007.
Conseco Health Insurance Co. filed its initial appellate brief with the U.S.
Middle District of Louisiana on Nov. 3, 2004.
under Judge James J. Brady with referral to Judge Christine Noland.
P.O. Drawer 71, 24110 Eden St.
The plaintiffs allege claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the U.S.
inflation of the company's Predecessor's stock price.
and James Adams, et al., Case No. 02-CV-1332 DFH-TAB."
defendants on Dec. 8, 2003.
Mr. Chokel and on July 14, 2005, this matter was dismissed.
the quarterly period ended June 30, 2007.
under Judge David Frank Hamilton with referral to Judge Tim A. Baker.
f/k/a Conseco Annuity Assurance Co., Case No. C0504726" was filed in the U.S.
-- unjust enrichment and imposition of constructive trust.
On Jan. 27, 2006, a similar complaint was filed in the same court, “Friou P.
Company, Cause No. C06-00537.” Mr. Jones had purchased an annuity in 2003.
good faith and fair dealing.
part, and the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint.
Conseco Marketing, LLC and 40|86 Advisors, Inc.
complaint. The case is set for trial commencing Feb. 12, 2008.
John J. Stoia, Jr., Esq.
pursuant to a registration statement.
Defendants (collectively, the "Settling Defendants").
which was filed on September 6, 2007, and incorporates the Settlement.
on the cash payments described herein.
emerges from bankruptcy and pays the Delphi Plan Currency.
Michigan 48226 in Courtroom 733, at 9:30 a.m., on November 13, 2007.
stock, is brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
losses as a result of alleged breaches of fiduciary duties under ERISA.
were subsequently transferred to the Multidistrict Litigation.
a putative class period of May 28, 1999 to Nov. 1, 2005.
judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Eastern District of Michigan as part of the Multidistrict Litigation.
against certain current and former directors and officers of the company.
with matters related to the company's restatement of its financial results.
District of Michigan, described above.
Code, all the derivative cases were administratively closed.
Court for the Eastern District of Michigan under Judge Gerald E. Rosen.
smelting plant when it was shut down in 2001.
owners, on the other hand, say it puts profits ahead of community safety.
The trial could last four months, according to the report.
lifelong risk by dumping heavy metals on the Spelter site for 90 years.
* Meadowbrook Corp. of West Virginia.
Aug. 1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery (ECC) faces a complaint in the U.S.
of The Pierce County Herald.
them to work beyond their shifts.
directly from the tardy employees.
Mr. Halverson told The Pierce County Herald.
class-action status for the suit.
prohibiting ECC from violating state and federal wage laws.
can cause life-threatening illness or death.
experiencing these problems should seek immediate medical attention.
Jersey areas and it reached consumers through retail stores.
and vacuum packed with a clear plastic bag.
The potential for contamination was noted after routing testing.
Consumers who have purchased the Blue Ocean Smoked Indian Sardine Tamban 8oz.
refund. Consumers with questions may contact Everlasting Distributors, Inc.
8.5 million people to identity theft.
is representing Mr. Borreson in the matter.
an employee of the company and released to unauthorized third parties.
-- S & S Computer Services, Inc.
and breach of implied contract (Class Action Reporter, Aug. 17, 2007).
theft and other fraudulent actions.
and promotional offers as well as phone calls to his home.
plaintiff engaged a credit monitoring service.
Bed Bath & Beyond and Amazon.com.
California under Judge Gary A. Feess with referral to Judge Margaret A. Nagle.
Vlerebome of The Madison Courier reports.
emotional distress, civil conspiracy, criminal conduct.
Marcia Taylor Smith, secretary of Volunteers for Grandview Committee.
of Brockville Recorder and Times reports.
psychological and physical abuses when punishing former students.
Grenville Christian College is a private boarding school in east Brockville.
controversial reports in the media and on the Internet.
according to a statement by the UFCW.
worksite raids conducted by ICE agents.
workers in an effort to target a few select individuals."
Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Tex.; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Grand Island, Neb.
workers were indicted for identity theft.
to UFCW members, a direct violation of a worker’s right to legal counsel.
rights communities to file amicus briefs on behalf of the UFCW suit.
in the packing and food processing industries.
problems with their attorney, Dani Maxwell of WREX-TV reports.
probation within the last few years, and has another complaint pending.
-- Garcia v. Jakks Pacific, Inc. et al., Civil Action No.
-- Kahn v. Jakks Pacific, Inc. et al., Civil Action No.
No. 04-9078 (filed on Nov. 16, 2004).
of the licensing agreements with the company.
1999 and late as Oct. 19, 2004.
20(a) of the Exchange Act by Messrs. Friedman, Berman and Bennett.
Pacific, Inc. Shareholders Class Action Litigation, Case No. 04-8807."
thereafter with respect to a motion to dismiss.
The motion to dismiss has been fully briefed and argument occurred on Nov.
30, 2006. The motion is still pending.
frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
employees, the American Chronicle reports.
behalf. The suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Filed on Feb. 18, 2005, the lawsuit, "Maureen Petray and Carina Higareda v.
Business and Professions Code, and recovery of unpaid wages and penalties.
MedStaff currently has less than 50 corporate employees in California.
Inc., et al.," has been either decertified or granted final certification.
of the opt-in period in "Henry v. MedStaff, Inc., et al."
On Oct. 27, 2006, plaintiffs filed a motion for class Certification. On Feb.
5, 2007, the court granted class certification.
the legal team for workers who sued the companies.
one of their most basic obligations -- to pay their workers properly."
The Complaint further alleges that some of the Defendants "subcontracted"
smaller companies if the workers attempted to enforce their legal rights.
companies took advantage of this tragedy to enrich themselves at our expense.
Brinckherhoff & Abady LLP, of New York; and The Legal Aid Society of New York.
put themselves in harm's way to help get New York City back on its feet.
had also been robbed of wages."
eight putative class actions filed against Schering-Plough Corp. before U.S.
-- Fareston, for breast cancer.
proceeds of unjust enrichment, statutory damages and costs of suit.
for subsidized phone services, reports say.
for the Universal Services Fund.
and eventually consolidated in federal court in Kansas City, Kan.
a federally mandated phone service subsidy.
get $4.99 million for their fees and costs.
2003, will get cards with nominal face values of $20.
resolve the issue.” He declined further comment.
Sprint Nextel Corp. on the Net: http://www.sprint.com/.
to punitive damages, and if so, in what amount.
-- on behalf of EFTA, for statutory damages under 15 U.S.C.
The suit is "Paula DeDomenico et al. v. Webloyalty.com Inc., et al. Case No.
Stay Low and Average Settlements Stay High--But Are These Trends Reversing?"
and settlements through 30 June 2007.
Have Average Settlement Values Peaked?
$1 billion. Before 2006, only three settlements had ever exceeded $1 billion.
lower than the median values in 2005.
allegations has declined to 26%.
Filings on the Rise Again - Did They Bottom Out in 2006?
that the trend in filings may in fact be changing directions.
The Ninth Circuit: Bellwether for Filing Trends?
shareholder class action cases are filed in the Second and Ninth Circuits.
such cases through the first half of 2007.
in filings in the months to come, note the authors.
non-US companies, even though this group accounted for over 12% of listings.
accounted for 14.4% of listings.
Trends for 2007 and Beyond: Will Filings Start To Rise?
of filings in the near future.
cases filed between 2001 and 2005 were dismissed.
Dismissal rates have nearly doubled since the PSLRA.
have been relatively steady in recent years.
largest amount ever paid by a single settling defendant.
the average for 2007 could surpass $100 million.
expected settlement of more than 20%.
January 4, 2007 and May 25, 2007, inclusive.
prospects were lacking in a reasonable basis when made.
discomfort, and to promote ocular health.
on May 29, 2007 at $34.69 per share, on unusually heavy trading volume.
to become artificially inflated, inflicting damages on investors.
percent in after hours trading to $11.70 a share.
through August 2, 2007 inclusive.
primarily in the United States and Canada.
decline of 17%, on volume of 3.5 million shares.
its forecasted 2007 EPS were at a minimum reckless.
period between February 21, 2007 and August 21, 2007.
able to sell $8.7 million worth of his Tween stock.
volume of 8 million shares.
make the projections it did about its 2007 results.
its 2007 results were at a minimum grossly reckless.
USA. Glenn Ruel Senorin, Ma. Cristina Canson, and Janice Mendoza, Editors.

matches: v. v. v. v. v. v.


text:
The Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34 (Act) and is the head of the Canadian Competition Bureau (Bureau), an independent agency within the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. The Commissioner investigates and enforces the provisions of the Act related to vertical agreements and dominant firm conduct.
While the Commissioner will often seek the voluntary cooperation of the target(s) of an investigation and third parties (such as competitors, suppliers and customers), the Commissioner has powers under the Act to obtain a court order requiring: a witness to be examined under oath (or solemn affirmation); the delivery of written responses to questions, under oath (or solemn affirmation); and the production of documents or other records.
A Bureau investigation is typically initiated following the receipt of a complaint about a party’s conduct, and can lead to the commencement of a formal inquiry into the matter (required to invoke the investigatory powers outlined in the response to question 1.2). Launching a formal inquiry is, generally, subject to the Commissioner’s discretion, save in rare circumstances (specified in the Act) where an inquiry must be launched.
The Commissioner will, generally, seek voluntary cooperation from the target and third parties at the outset of his investigation, and thereafter may use his formal powers described in the response to question 1.2 should the investigation progress. All stakeholders, notably the target(s) of the investigations, can make submissions to the Commissioner.
Where the Commissioner determines that the relevant provisions of the Act have been engaged, he will, generally, try to resolve the issue(s) with the target on a negotiated basis. Where a negotiated resolution is not possible, the Commissioner may apply to the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) (a specialised court responsible for adjudicating applications relating to civilly reviewable matters), for an order remedying the conduct.
The remedies ordered by the Tribunal (and sought by the Commissioner) will depend on the relevant provision(s) of the Act in issue. The Tribunal can generally prohibit a party from engaging in the anti-competitive conduct. Certain provisions contain additional remedies, such as ordering a party to supply customers on usual trade terms (in the case of a refusal to deal), ordering a party to accept a third party as a customer on usual trade terms (in the case of price maintenance), and ordering a party to pay an administrative monetary penalty (AMP) (in the case of an abuse of dominance).
The Tribunal will only issue an order where all of the elements of the provision(s) are established, on a balance of probabilities, and only to the extent permissible by the relevant provision(s) and necessary to address the anti-competitive harm.
AMPs cannot be ordered to punish anti-competitive conduct, but only to promote practices that are in conformity with the purposes of the abuse of dominance provisions. In determining the amount of the AMP, the Tribunal must consider: the effect on competition in the relevant market; the gross revenue from sales affected by the practice; any actual or anticipated profits from the practice; the financial position of the target(s); the history of the target(s)’ compliance with the Act; and any other relevant factor.
Where the Commissioner and the target(s) are able to reach a resolution, the Commissioner may accept an undertaking(s) from the target(s), but, generally, the parties will enter into a consent agreement. The consent agreement sets out the target’s obligations as regards the relevant conduct and any applicable AMPs or costs payable to the Commissioner; it is filed with the Tribunal and has the same force and effect as an order of the Tribunal.
Absent a negotiated resolution, the Commissioner must apply to the Tribunal for relief. To be successful in his application, the Commissioner must establish, on a balance of probabilities, that the relevant provision(s) of the Act has been contravened.
A Tribunal decision can be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal (with leave on questions of fact and as of right for questions of law). The Federal Court of Appeal’s decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, with leave.
Parties directly affected by certain vertical conduct can, with leave of the Tribunal, apply to the Tribunal for relief concerning another party’s contravention of the Act’s refusal to deal, price maintenance, exclusive dealing, tied selling and market restriction provisions. Relief does not include damages and is limited to the relief available on an application by the Commissioner. No such private right of access is available with respect to abuse of dominance.
Private rights of action for damages are not available with respect to the vertical agreements or abuse of dominance provisions of the Act, save where a party has suffered damages as a result of another’s breach of a Tribunal order with respect to those provisions. The action can be commenced before a provincial superior court or the Federal Court (not the Tribunal) and can be brought as a class action (where applicable) in a provincial superior court.
■ the conduct is the exercise or enjoyment of an intellectual or industrial property right (abuse of dominance).
Generally, no; however, the Bureau may identify certain industries, or even practices, as enforcement priorities, often determined by their impact on the greatest number of Canadians.
The Commissioner and Tribunal will take into account how industry regulations may affect a party’s conduct and/or the competitive dynamics in the relevant market. For example, regulations that authorise the conduct, expressly or impliedly, may affect the remedy sought or granted (or whether a remedy will be sought or granted at all) and regulations that limit entry may be important in assessing whether the target(s) has market power, a required element of abuse of dominance.
The Commissioner is an independent law enforcement official and the political environment does not generally affect his enforcement of the vertical agreement or abuse of dominance provisions of the Act.
The Bureau is particularly concerned with industries that impact the greatest number of Canadians. For example, recent Bureau investigations have considered anti-competitive conduct related to residential real estate, securities market data, contracts with Canadian wireless carriers to sell and market smartphones, agreements relating to e-books, catering services at airports, air transportation, the grocery industry and the travel industry.
Two notable decisions in the past year concern the Commissioner’s abuse of dominance investigations in the real estate industry and airport catering services.
The Commissioner brought an application before the Tribunal alleging that the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) abused its dominant position by restricting its members from using data to offer real estate services over the internet. Following a Federal Court of Appeal finding that section 79 should not be interpreted so narrowly as to require that the anti-competitive acts be directed at one’s competitor, the Tribunal ruled (in the Commissioner’s favour) that TREB’s restrictions substantially prevented competition for real estate services, especially innovative competition, and were not saved as an exercise of the Board’s intellectual property rights in the data. The decision was appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal, which affirmed the Tribunal’s decision in December 2017. (The Commissioner of Competition v. The Toronto Real Estate Board, 2013 Comp. Trib. 9 (CT-2011-003), rev’d 2014 FCA 29, leave to appeal to SCC refused, 35799 (July 24, 2014) and The Commissioner of Competition v The Toronto Real Estate Board, 2016 Comp. Trib. 7 (CT-2011-003), aff’d 2017 FCA 236.) TREB has sought leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC 37932).
The Commissioner will investigate and may pursue vertical agreements which (or are likely to) substantially lessen or prevent, or have an adverse effect on, competition; however, these provisions of the Act have not been a high enforcement priority for the Commissioner and have not been the subject of recent (public) enforcement action.
The Act’s focus is not on the existence of a “vertical agreement” but on the nature of the vertical (often unilateral) conduct and whether it contravenes the relevant provision(s) of the Act, e.g., by adversely affecting or substantially lessening or preventing competition.
The market has both a product (goods or services) and geographic market dimension.
The product market will include the product(s) associated with the anti-competitive conduct and any close substitutes. Buyer behaviour, product end-use and physical characteristics, switching costs, and price relationships/levels are amongst the factors considered in defining the product market.
The geographic market will include the location where the relevant product is sold and any other locations which provide supply substitutes (e.g., the territory where there is competition and in which prices for a product tend towards uniformity). Buyer behaviour, switching costs, transportation costs, shipment patterns and foreign competition are amongst the factors considered in defining the geographic market.
(Canada (Director of Investigation and Research) v. Tele-Direct (Publications) Inc. (1997), 73 C.P.R. (3d) 1 (Comp. Trib.) and Canada (Director of Investigation and Research) v. NutraSweet Co. (1990), 32 C.P.R. (3d) 1 (Comp. Trib.); Commissioner of Competition v. Canada Pipe, 2005 Comp. Trib. 3 (CT-2002-006), aff’d 2006 FCA 236, leave to appeal to SCC refused  S.C.C.A. No. 366 and Abuse of Dominance Guidelines (see question 2.15)).
The Commissioner will generally assess agreements between suppliers and distributors in a dual distribution arrangement as vertical agreements under the civil provisions of the Act. However, where the agreements are, effectively, agreements (to restrain competition) amongst competitors, such as by allocating markets, the Bureau can also consider such agreements under the cartel (criminal) or competitor collaboration (civil) provisions of the Act.
Certain provisions only apply where a target is dominant or is a “major supplier” in a market. Market share will be an important, but not determinative, factor in such cases.
Additionally, the extent of the target’s market power will be important in assessing the relevant conduct’s effect on competition, and market share will be a factor in that regard.
Economic analysis is fundamental to determining the relevant conduct’s actual or likely effect on competition.
None of the Act’s relevant provisions expressly provide for efficiencies to be taken into account; however, the business justification(s) which may be based on efficiencies, may be relevant to the analysis. Moreover, the promotion of efficient markets is one of the enumerated purposes of the Act and these purposes may be considered by the Tribunal in its analysis of vertical agreements.
Section 32 of the Act empowers the Federal Court, on application by the Attorney General of Canada, to make a remedial order(s) if it finds that a firm has used its IP rights to unduly restrain or injure trade or unduly limit, lessen or prevent competition. Such orders could include declaring any agreement or licence relating to the anti-competitive use void, requiring the licensing of the IP right (except in the case of trademarks), revoking the IP right or directing that other things be done to prevent its anti-competitive use.
Only two such applications have ever been made (in 1969 and 1970), and both cases were settled before proceeding to full hearings with no remedial order being issued.
Yes, either an “adverse effect” on competition, a “substantial lessening” or a “substantial lessening or prevention” of competition (depending on the relevant provision of the Act).
Yes. The Bureau has issued guidelines relating to price maintenance and abuse of dominance. (See Enforcement Guidelines on Price Maintenance, Section 76 of the Competition Act (15 September 2014), available online at http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/03787.html and Enforcement Guidelines on the Abuse of Dominance Provisions, Sections 78 and 79 of the Competition Act (20 September 2012), available online at www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/03497.html (Abuse of Dominance Guidelines)).
Resale price maintenance occurs where a supplier: (a) by “agreement, threat, promise or any like means” influences upward or discourages the reduction of the price at which a customer or other reseller supplies, offers to supply, or advertises a product within Canada; or (b) refuses to supply a product to, or otherwise discriminates against, any person because of that person’s low pricing policy, and results in an adverse effect on competition in a market.
The price maintenance provisions do not apply where the customer and supplier are in a principal/agent relationship, or the customer used the product(s) as a loss leader or to attract customers to buy other products (and not to generate a profit), was making a practice of misleading advertising, or did not provide the level of service that purchasers of the product would reasonably expect.
The Commissioner (or a private party, with leave) may apply to the Tribunal for relief and if successful, the Tribunal can issue an order prohibiting the conduct from continuing or requiring the party to accept another person as a customer on usual trade terms.
(c) competition is or is likely to be lessened substantially.
The Commissioner (or a private party, with leave) may apply to the Tribunal for relief and, if successful, the Tribunal can issue an order prohibiting the conduct from continuing and containing any other requirement that is necessary to restore or stimulate competition in the market. No order will be issued where the practice is carried on for a reasonable time (only) to facilitate entry of a new supplier or a new product.
The Commissioner (or a private party, with leave) may apply to the Tribunal for relief and, if successful, the Tribunal can issue an order prohibiting the conduct from continuing and containing any other requirement that is necessary to restore or stimulate competition in the market. No order will be issued where the practice is reasonable, having regard to the relationship between the products.
There is no provision in the Act that expressly deals with price discrimination, but the Commissioner takes the position that such conduct can be considered under the abuse of dominance provisions (see Section 3).
Loyalty discounts are considered under the exclusive dealing (see question 2.17) and abuse of dominance (see Section 3) provisions of the Act.
Multi-product or “bundled” discounts are considered under the tied selling (see question 2.18) and abuse of dominance (see Section 3) provisions of the Act.
(c) the refusal to deal is having or is likely to have an adverse effect on competition in a market.
The Commissioner (or a private party, with leave) may apply to the Tribunal for relief and, if successful, the Tribunal can issue an order requiring the party to supply the product on usual trade terms.
Where a party requires a customer to sell a product only in a defined market as a condition of supplying that product, or exacts a penalty from the customer if it supplies the product outside a defined market, the Tribunal will find a contravention of section 77 warranting a remedy where the practice is widespread in a market or is engaged in by a major supplier, and is likely to substantially lessen competition in relation to the product.
The Commissioner (or a private litigant, with leave) may apply to the Tribunal for relief and, if successful, the Tribunal can issue an order prohibiting the conduct from continuing and containing any other requirement that is necessary to restore or stimulate competition in the market.
MFNs are typically considered under the abuse of dominance provisions of the Act. (See, e.g., Canada (Director of Investigation and Research) v. The D & B Companies of Canada Ltd. (1995), 64 C.P.R. (3d) 216 (Comp. Trib.) and Section 3, below.) However, in a recent case dealing with e-books, MFNs were also considered under section 90.1 of the Act, as part of a collaboration between (potential) competitors, with the Commissioner asserting that agreements that included MFN clauses and restricted the ability of e-book retailers to discount the retail price for e-books were contrary to section 90.1.
The Commissioner takes seriously conduct which engages the Act’s abuse of dominance provisions and will take action to remedy such conduct before the Tribunal. Having said that, the Bureau pursues a limited number of such cases before the Tribunal.
The provisions of the Act applicable to dominant firms are sections 78 and 79, and to a limited extent section 77 (see questions 2.17, 2.18 and 2.22 in that regard).
■ Dominance – One or more firms substantially or completely control(s) a market.
■ Anti-competitive conduct – The dominant firm(s) has (have) engaged in a practice of anti-competitive acts. A non-exhaustive list of (potentially) “anti-competitive acts” is set out in section 78 and includes margin squeezing, exclusive dealing, predatory pricing, selective introduction of “fighting brands”, and other conduct.
■ A substantial prevention or lessening of competition (SPLC) – The anti-competitive conduct has had, is having or is likely to result in a SPLC in a relevant market.
Where the Tribunal finds that section 79 has been engaged it can issue an order prohibiting the firm(s) from continuing to engage in the anti-competitive conduct or where such an order would not be effective, it can direct the firm(s) to take certain specific actions (such as the divestiture of assets or shares). Additionally, the Tribunal can order the firm(s) to pay AMPs of no more than C$10 million, for a first order, and C$15 million for subsequent orders.
Only the Commissioner can apply to the Tribunal for an order under section 79; there is no private right of access for third parties nor private right of action for damages.
See the response to question 2.6.
While the Act does not identify a specific market share threshold that will trigger a finding of dominance, a high market share is generally required. The Bureau’s Abuse of Dominance Guidelines note that in the case of single firm conduct, a market share of 50% or more will generally prompt review while market shares below 50% (and more than 35%) will “generally only prompt further examination if it appears the firm is likely to increase its market share through the alleged anti-competitive conduct within a reasonable period of time”. To date, all of the contested abuse of dominance cases in Canada have involved single firms with market shares in excess of 70%.
In the case of “joint abuse”, the Abuse of Dominance Guidelines provide that a combined market share equal to or exceeding 65% “will generally prompt further examination”.
Neither dominance nor monopoly is illegal under the Act. Only conduct engaged in by a dominant party (parties) or monopolist, where all of the elements of section 79 are established, is problematic (see question 3.2).
Economic analysis is fundamental to determining a firm’s dominance, as well as assessing the anti-competitive conduct’s effect on competition.
Market share will be an important but not determinative factor in assessing dominance (see question 3.4).
■ subsection 79(5) provides that the exercise or enjoyment of an intellectual or industrial property right is not “an anti-competitive act”.
The promotion of efficient markets is one of the enumerated purposes of the Act and these purposes are to be reflected in the methodology used to assess whether conduct is likely to prevent or lessen competition substantially in abuse of dominance cases (Canada (Commissioner of Competition) v. Canada Pipe Co. 2006 FCA 233 at para. 48, leave to appeal to SCC refused  S.C.C.A. No. 366).
While efficiencies are not expressly referenced in section 79, they are relevant to a consideration of whether the relevant conduct constitutes an “anti-competitive act” or whether it is in furtherance of a legitimate business objective. The latter “must be a credible efficiency or pro-competitive rationale for the conduct in question”. (Canada (Commissioner of Competition) v. Canada Pipe Co. 2006 FCA 233 at para. 73, leave to appeal to SCC refused  S.C.C.A. No. 366.) The Bureau’s Abuse of Dominance Guidelines note that business justifications could include “reducing the firm’s costs of production or operation, or improvements in technology or production processes that result in innovative new products or improvements in product quality or service”.
Yes, however, there is currently no Tribunal jurisprudence on what would constitute an abuse of joint dominance (for example, whether co-ordinated behaviour between firms is required or whether conscious parallelism would be sufficient).
The Commissioner and Tribunal will undertake the same analysis in determining whether the actions of a dominant firm (or jointly dominant firms) constitute an abuse of dominance; however, there is no Tribunal jurisprudence on purchaser dominance.
Section 78 contains a non-exhaustive list of nine acts that could trigger the application of section 79. Examples of acts not found in this list but asserted by the Commissioner to be anti-competitive are: contracting practices requiring or inducing exclusivity; evergreen, meet-or-release or MFN clauses; intimidation through litigation; and tied selling.
Yes, direct indicators (e.g., whether profits, pricing policies or customer service indicate market power) will be considered in assessing market power. However, the Bureau has noted in its Abuse of Dominance Guidelines that such indicators are not always conclusive. As a result, the Bureau (and the Tribunal) will also consider indirect indicators (such as market share, barriers to entry, countervailing buyer power, etc.) in assessing market power.
The Act assesses conduct that would constitute an abuse of dominance irrespective of the industry; the Tribunal has not considered cases where “platform dominance” was in issue.
See the response to question 2.22.
In the spring of 2018, the Bureau issued a revised draft of its Abuse of Dominance Guidelines for public comment. A final version of these guidelines is expected to be published by the Bureau.

matches: v. v. v. v. v. v. v.


Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 272 › Duffy v. Mutual Benefit Life Ins. Co.
"(1) Actual cash paid in, (2) the actual cash value of tangible property paid in other than cash, for stock or shares of such corporation or partnership . . . and (3) paid in or earned surplus and undivided profits used or employed in the business,"
etc. P. 272 U. S. 617.
2. A legal reserve so constituted, and used for the double purpose of security and investment, is not a liability, though carried as such on the books, but is assets of the company. P. 272 U. S. 618.
3. Until the maturity of a policy, the policy holder is simply a member of the corporation, with a relation to it analogous to that of a stockholder to a joint stock company: upon the maturity of the policy, he becomes a creditor with an enforceable right. P. 272 U. S. 618.
4. Assuming that, in § 207(a), supra, the words "actual cash paid in" are qualified by the clause "for stock or shares in such corporation or partnership," the premiums paid by the policy holders of a mutual life insurance company are cash paid for "shares" in the corporation. P. 272 U. S. 619.
Certiorari (268 U.S. 686) to a judgment of the circuit court of appeals which affirmed a judgment of the District Court (295 F. 881) against Duffy, Collector of Internal Revenue, in an action by the Insurance Company to recover the amount of an additional income tax assessment, which had been paid by the Company under protest.
"Sec. 201. That, in addition to the taxes under existing law and under this Act, there shall be levied, assessed, collected, and paid for each taxable year upon the income of every corporation, partnership, or individual, a tax (hereinafter in this title referred to as the tax) equal to the following percentages of the net income:"
"Twenty percentum of the amount of the net income in excess of the deduction (determined as hereinafter provided) and not in excess of fifteen percentum of the invested capital for the taxable year. . . ."
"Sec. 203. That, for the purposes of this title, the deduction shall be as follows, except as otherwise in this title provided --"
"(a) In the case of a domestic corporation, the sum of (1) an amount equal to the same percentage of the invested capital for the taxable year which the average amount of the annual net income of the trade or business during the prewar period was of the invested capital for the prewar period (but not less than seven or more than nine percentum of the invested capital for the taxable year), and (2) $3,000. . . ."
"As used in this title 'invested capital' does not include stocks, bonds (other than obligations of the United States), or other assets, the income from which is not subject to the tax imposed by this title nor money or other property borrowed, and means, subject to the above limitations:"
property paid in other than cash, for stock or shares in such corporation or partnership at the time of such payment (but in case such tangible property was paid in prior to January first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, the actual cash value of such property as of January first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, but in no case to exceed the par value of the original stock or shares specifically issued therefor), and (3) paid in or earned surplus and undivided profits used or employed in the business, exclusive of undivided profits earned during the taxable year. . . ."
Respondent is a mutual company having no capital stock, and its policyholders constitute its members. Its business has always been conducted upon the "level premium plan," under which the estimated annual cost of the insurance is averaged and the maximum annual contribution of each member is uniform throughout the life of the policy. The annual contributions during the early years of the policy are in excess of the natural premiums, and such excess premiums, augmented by interest thereon, are held as a reserve to maintain the insurance in the later years. These contributions (or premiums), together with the increment derived from their investment, constitute the sole assets of the company. A more complete statement of the plan will be found in the opinion of the district court in this case, 295 F. 881, and cases cited in that opinion at p. 883.
to something over $186,000,000. In addition to the legal reserve, the company maintained a second or "contingent reserve" as a margin of safety to meet contingencies. The two reserves are not segregated in any way or separately identified or invested. The funds therein, constituting the company's entire assets, are invested in its office building and in government bonds and other securities. The income resulting from the investments is returned for federal taxation and is taxed. For the year 1917, the sum of the two reserves was returned by the company as invested capital for that taxable year. The net income shown for the year was $1,808,339.33, upon which the company paid an income tax of $108,500.36, but no excess profits tax. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue amended the returns and, thereupon, levied an additional assessment against the company amounting to $83,779.70. This was accomplished, so far as necessary to be now considered, by deducting from the amount of invested capital as returned the sum of $186,258,796, being the exact amount of the legal reserve, and reducing the company's invested capital for the year to the sum of $14,719,043.76. It is agreed that, if, instead of this latter sum, the company's invested capital had been computed at any sum in excess of $25,500,000, no war excess profits tax would have been due.
The company paid the amount of the additional assessment under protest and brought this action to recover it. The collector moved to strike out the complaint as insufficient in law. It was stipulated that the decision on the motion should be a final disposition of the controversy. The district court denied the motion and rendered judgment for the full amount with interest. 295 F. 881. The judgment was affirmed by the circuit court of appeals. 3 F.2d 1020.
up as much as $25,500,000 when added to the amount allowed by the commissioner, is invested capital within the meaning of § 207(a) of the Revenue Act. The contention of the collector is that, under subdivisions (1) and (2), § 207(a), invested capital must be either cash or tangible property paid in for stock or shares of the corporation, and inasmuch as the company has no capital represented by stock or shares, its legal reserve is not invested capital within the meaning of those subdivisions; that the legal reserve is not surplus or undivided profits within the meaning of subdivision (3) because it is no more than the equivalent of the obligations of the company at the time under its policies of insurance. It is contented that the legal reserve represents a present existing liability, and stress is put upon the fact that it is carried by the company on the liability side of its ledger.
maturity of the policy, he becomes a creditor, with an enforceable right. Then, for the first time, there is an indebtedness. See Mayer v. Attorney General, 31 N.J.Eq. 815, 820-822. In the meantime, each member bears a relation to the mutual company analogous to that which a stockholder bears to the joint-stock company in which he holds stock. In either case, the title to the assets is in the corporation, and not in the members or stockholders.
True, the amount of the reserve is carried on the books as a liability, but only as the capital stock of a stock corporation is carried on its books as a liability. In both instances, in is a form of bookkeeping to balance assets, which in the one case is contributed by the members, and in the other by the stockholders. If § 207(a) subdivisions (1) and (2) had defined invested capital as "actual cash paid in," without more, it probably would not be doubted that the part of the legal reserve derived from premiums would be included. The doubt results from the use of the additional words "for stock or shares in such corporation or partnership." The collector says these words qualify the phrase "(1) actual cash paid in" as well as the phrase which they immediately follow, "(2) the actual cash value of tangible property paid in." For present purposes, we shall assume this to be so, although there is a plausible argument on the other side to the contrary, and consider the case accordingly. The mutual company is not a stock company, and the word "stock" may be put aside as having no application to it. It is clear that, since the word "stock" does not describe interests in partnerships, included expressly along with corporations in the same paragraph, the word "shares" must be held to do so. And if that word is broad enough to include partnership interests, it it broad enough to include the interests held by members in nonstock corporations.
To hold the contrary would be to so limit the application of subdivisions (1) and (2) of § 207(a) as altogether to exclude therefrom those corporations which have no capital stock. We cannot suppose that Congress intended such a result, but must conclude that it used the word "stock" as appropriate in the case of stock corporations and the word "shares" as appropriate in the case of partnerships and nonstock corporations. Such an interpretation does no violence to the ordinary meaning of the word, for while it is entirely proper to speak of "stock" as "shares" it is equally proper to designate the several interests in a common fund as "shares." To the extent of $70,000,000, the legal reserve consisted of "actual cash paid in" by the members. These payments were intended for investment, and were invested, to increase the resources of the company, and thereby reduce the cost of the insurance, and it requires no stretch of the realities to say that, within the meaning of subdivisions (1) and (2), § 207(a), the fund which they created is invested capital. This is enough to relieve the company from the payment of any war excess profits tax, and it is unnecessary to inquire whether the remaining $116,000,000 is to be regarded as earned surplus under subdivision (3).


Sirley M.M. v. Jorge L.C.
In the Matter of Family Offense Proceeding, Sirley M.M., Petitioner, v. Jorge L.C., Respondent. In the Matter of Family Offense Proceeding, Jorge L.C.,Petitioner, v. Sirley M.M.,Respondent.
For Sirley M.M., Ronna Gordon-Galchus, Esq.; For Jorge L.C., Jennifer Arditi, Esq.
On July 24, 2017, Sirley M.M. (hereinafter "Ms. M") filed a family offense petition against her husband, Jorge L.C. (hereinafter "Mr. C"). On that same date, Mr. C filed a family offense petition against Ms. M in family court. On September 11, 2017, Mr. C served Ms. M with matrimonial papers, and divorce proceedings commenced. On December 6, 2017, the parties returned to family court for an appearance on their family offense petitions. On that date, the Court with consent of both parties adjourned both petitions for six months with temporary orders of protection in place. The parties agreed to pursue their mutual grievances in Queens Supreme Court and not to prosecute the petitions beyond the expiration date. The parties agreed not to file any further family offense petitions against each other unless new facts arose or a violation of the temporary orders of protection occurred. Pursuant to the parties's agreement and understanding, the matter was adjourned with no appearances necessary to an agreed upon expiration date of the temporary orders of protection at which time the petitions would be dismissed. This de facto adjournment in contemplation of dismissal ("hereinafter "ACD") used by the Court satisfies the interests of both parties and resolves their family offense matters.
New York State Family Court Act Article 8 establishes a civil proceeding to protect persons within intimate relationships from violence. See NY Fam. Ct. Act Art. 8 (McKinney's 2018). Specifically, family offense proceedings were designed for the "purpose of attempting to stop the violence, end the family disruption and obtain protection." NY Fam. Ct. Act § 812(2)(b) (McKinney's 2018). The Court has several dispositional alternatives after a trial or towards settlement of a family offense matter. See NY Fam. Ct. Act § 841(McKinney's 2018). The Court may dismiss the petition, suspend judgment for up to six months, place a respondent on probation for up to one year with certain conditions, enter an order of protection on behalf of the petitioner, and direct restitution up to $10,000. See id.
In criminal matters, ACDs are permitted to settle cases, including those alleging family offenses. See generally NY C.P.L. §§ 170.55, 170.56 (McKinney's 2018). ACDs are a termination of a case, the terms of which may involve the issuance of an order of protection and/or the direction of compliance with certain conditions. See generally NY C.P.L. § 170.55 (McKinney's 2018). Upon consent of the parties, an ACD is entered and the proceeding is adjourned for a period of time in furtherance of the interests of justice. See NY C.P.L. § 170.55(2) (McKinney's 2018). Where an order of protection is entered in conjunction with an ACD, the order of protection exists until the case is dismissed. See NY C.P.L. § 170.55(3) (McKinnney's 2018) (court may issue order of protection in criminal ACD); NY C.P.L. § 530.12 (McKinnney's 2018) (criminal orders of protection in family offense matters); NY C.P.L. § 530.13 (McKinnney's 2018) (criminal orders of protection in non-family offense matters). A matter may be restored to the calendar upon a recipient's failure to comply with the terms of an ACD. See NY C.P.L. § 170.55(2) (McKinney's 2018). Since an ACD is not a conviction or an admission of guilt, see NY C.P.L. § 170.55(8) (McKinney's 2018), parties who successfully complete an ACD suffer no adverse criminal consequences. See NY C.P.L. § 170.55(8) (McKinney's 2018). Although the family court has concurrent jurisdiction with the criminal court in family offense matters, there is no correspondent provision for ACDs within the Article 8 dispositional statute. See NY Fam. Ct. Act § 842 (McKinney's 2018); see also NY C.P.L. § 170.55 (McKinney's 2018) (criminal ACD statute); NY Fam. Ct. Act § 315.3 (McKinney's 2018) (ACD is dispositional alternative in quasi-criminal juvenile delinquency proceedings in family court).
In family offense cases, for a period of one year. See NY C.P.L. § 170.55(2) (McKinney's 2018); see also NY C.P.L. § 530.11 (McKinney's 2018).
The Court has used temporary orders of protections to resolve family offense petitions for quite some time, and it has proven to be quite effective. Rarely, if ever, do parties come back to court prior to a case's dismissal on its scheduled adjourn date for any reason. Although the Family Court Act (hereinafter "FCA") does not provide for ACD-type dispositions for family offense matters, the FCA does not preclude such a resolution either. The Court fashioned this manner of settling cases to fill that void since oftentimes the parties are searching for a practicable solution that benefits all parties where there appears to be none.
Agreeing to dismiss a family offense case upon the expiration of temporary orders of protection achieves a satisfactory outcome for all concerned in many ways. It avoids needless further litigation which can be both time consuming for the court and costly to the litigant. The adjournment provides a cooling off period whereby the parties have a chance to spend time apart as directed by the order of protection, and to begin to regroup and heal. Issuing a temporary order of protection avoids any adverse effects that a final order may have upon a party, including possible reputation and employment consequences. The scheduling of an end time to the matter not only avoids needless trials, but also eliminates further court appearances which require time, trouble and expense. Moreover, avoiding a trial relieves the parties themselves from having to testify about sensitive personal issues, thereby exacerbating their already strained relationship. The parties need not bring witnesses to testify who may be close to both parties and reluctant to testify because it would force them to choose sides. Perhaps, most importantly, this type of arrangement does not infringe upon the parties' rights since they are free to file new petitions based upon fresh facts, or violations of their temporary orders of protection which are in place at the time of the settlement.