Free Motion for Extension of Time - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 243

Filed 06/26/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 00-697C (Senior Judge Merow)

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 6(b) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC"), defendant, the United States, respectfully requests an enlargement of time of four days, to and including Friday, June 30, 2006, of the current deadline within which to serve its (1) expert reports, (2) submissions responding to plaintiff's damages schedules, and (3) responses and objections to plaintiff's third set of production requests. Our deadline for serving each of these three items is currently Monday, June 26, 2006. This is defendant's third request for an enlargement of time for our response to the document production request, the Court having previously granted defendant two enlargements totaling 25 days. The deadlines for defendant's submission of its expert reports and its responses to plaintiff's damages schedules have been enlarged three and four times, respectively, based upon joint or agreed motions enlarging other pretrial deadlines in the case. Counsel for plaintiff has represented that plaintiff, Wisconsin Electric Power Company, opposes this motion. The document production request at issue seeks production of documents relating to defendant's testifying experts and their reports, and our response deadline was recently enlarged to allow the production of those documents to coincide with the submission of the expert reports.

Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 243

Filed 06/26/2006

Page 2 of 4

Our most recent 14-day enlargement was necessary to provide sufficient time for review of the expert reports by the representatives of the client agency, the Department of Energy, who were then engaged in the trial in Pacific Gas & Electric v. United States, Nos. 04-0074, -0075 (Judge Hewitt). Despite diligence on the part of the Government, the review process relating to the reports is still incomplete at this point. Additionally, flooding over this past weekend at the Department of Justice's Main Building has interrupted Government counsel's ability to communicate via e-mail or the internet, and to receive voice mail messages. Although we do not expect that this small enlargement will require the enlargement of any other pre-trial deadline, there is the possibility that plaintiff will wish to request a corresponding enlargement of the expert discovery deadline. The Government agreed to just such a request in its last enlargement of these deadlines. Beyond that, the Government does not expect this request to affect any of the other deadlines set forth in this Court's prior scheduling orders. The requested enlargement will permit Government counsel and the Government experts the time necessary to prepare thoughtful and comprehensive reports, to fully respond to plaintiff's production requests, and to prepare a useful response to plaintiff's damages schedules. Therefore, we respectfully request that the Court grant this motion for an enlargement of time. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director

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Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 243

Filed 06/26/2006

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OF COUNSEL: JANE K. TAYLOR Office of the General Counsel U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20585

s/ Harold D. Lester, Jr. HAROLD D. LESTER, JR. Assistant Director

ALAN J. LO RE Senior Trial Counsel RUSSELL A. SHULTIS SONIA M. ORFIELD Trial Attorneys Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice

s/ Kevin B. Crawford KEVIN B. CRAWFORD Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 305-9640 Fax: (202) 307-2503 Attorneys for Defendant

June 26, 2006

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Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 243

Filed 06/26/2006

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that on June 26, 2006 a copy of this "DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME" was filed electronically. I understand that notice of this filing will be sent to all parties by operation of the Court's electronic filing system. Parties may access this filing through the Court's system.

s/ Kevin B. Crawford