Free Motion for Extension of Time - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:00-cv-00705-CFD

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Filed 06/16/2004

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT : Case No. 3:00 CV 705 (CFD) : JUNE 15, 2004 : In re PE Corporation Securities Litigation : : MOTION ON CONSENT FOR EXTENSION OF DISCOVERY SCHEDULE Lead Plaintiffs David Berlin and Vinh Vuong ("Lead Plaintiffs"), through their undersigned counsel, hereby move pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b) for an extension of the fact discovery cut-off. In support of this motion, Lead Plaintiffs represent: 1. On May 21, 2003, the parties submitted their Report of Planning Meeting

pursuant to Rule 26(f). In that report the parties agreed to a fact discovery period of six months from the date of the report. The Report was Approved and Ordered by the Court on June 12, 2003. 2. On July 15, 2003, Lead Plaintiffs served their First Request for Production of

Documents. During this period of time, Lead Plaintiffs also served subpoenas on several nonparty witnesses. On August 5, 2003, Defendants moved for a protective order concerning Lead Plaintiffs' discovery requests to Defendants and certain subpoenas served on non-parties (the "motion for protective order").1 3. Because Defendants did not produce certain disputed documents during the

pendency of their motion for protective order, the parties filed a motion to extend the fact discovery schedule on October 1, 2003, which was endorsed by the Court on October 9, 2003. Specifically, the motion requested, among other things, that fact discovery be extended until 4 months following the substantial completion of document production by Defendants after resolution of the Motion for Protective Order. By letter dated March 12, 2004, Defendants

Case 3:00-cv-00705-CFD

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represented that they had substantially completed their document production. Accordingly, the new fact discovery cut-off date became July 12, 2004. 4. In addition to serving subpoenas on non-parties as noted above, Lead Plaintiffs

also served Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") requests on two U.S. government agencies: The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, on, or about, August 7, 2003. These agencies helped to fund the Human Genome Project, assisted in the day-to-day sequencing effort and/or had representatives at the December 29, 1999 meeting at issue here. Accordingly, these agencies are likely to possess information relevant to the Complaint's allegations. 5. Although Lead Plaintiffs made their FOIA requests in August 2003, Lead

Plaintiffs have not received any of the requested information. Because Lead Plaintiffs believe that the NIH and DOE are likely to possess information central to the parties' claims and/or defenses, which has yet to be produced, Lead Plaintiffs have been unable to proceed with deposition discovery. 6. At the May 6, 2004, class certification hearing, the Court suggested that the

parties should meet and confer concerning a new fact discovery cut-off date. Lead Plaintiffs conferred with counsel for defendants PE Corporation n/k/a Applera Corporation, Tony L. White, Dennis L. Winger and Vikram Jog ("Defendants"). Defendants do not oppose an extension of the fact discovery schedule through, and including, September 30, 2004. 7. Accordingly, Lead Plaintiffs respectfully request an extension of the fact

discovery cut-off date to September 30, 2004, so that Lead Plaintiffs may be allowed additional time to obtain the information requested of the NIH and DOE, and so that Lead Plaintiffs may engage in deposition discovery.

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Defendants' Motion for Protective Order was denied by Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith on November 3, 2003.

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RELIEF REQUESTED Lead Plaintiffs respectfully request an order extending the fact discovery cut-off date to, and including, September 30, 2004. LEAD PLAINTIFFS DAVID BERLIN AND VINH VUONG

By: David A. Slossberg (CT13116) Brian C. Fournier (CT16272) HURWITZ, SAGARIN & SLOSSBERG, LLC 147 North Broad Street P.O. Box 112 Milford, CT 06460 (203) 877-8000 Liaison Counsel for Lead Plaintiffs MILBERG WEISS BERSHAD & SCHULMAN LLP Sanford P. Dumain (CT08138) Carlos Ramirez (CT25340) One Pennsylvania Plaza New York, NY 10119 (212) 594-5300 Lead Counsel for Lead Plaintiffs