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

Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 239

Filed 06/07/2006

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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 UNOPPOSED 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 14 days, to and including Monday, June 26, 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 12, 2006. This is defendant's second request for an enlargement of time for our response to the document production request, the Court having previously granted defendant an enlargement totaling 11 days. The deadlines for defendant's submission of its expert reports and its responses to plaintiff's damages schedules have been enlarged two and three 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, does not oppose this motion on the condition that the period for expert discovery is enlarged from July 7, 2006 until August 18, 2006. Absent this corresponding enlargement, plaintiff opposes the Government's requested enlargements. The Government does not oppose plaintiff's condition.

Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 239

Filed 06/07/2006

Page 2 of 4

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. The requested enlargement is necessary to provide sufficient time for review of the expert reports by the representatives of the client agency, the Department of Energy, who are currently engaged in the trial in Pacific Gas & Electric v. United States, Nos. 04-0074, -0075 (Judge Hewitt). That trial is scheduled to end on June 16, 2006. Thus, the requested enlargement will permit Government counsel and the Government experts the time necessary to prepare a thoughtful, comprehensive report, 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 (upon the condition imposed by the plaintiff). Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director

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

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Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 239

Filed 06/07/2006

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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 7, 2006

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Case 1:00-cv-00697-JFM

Document 239

Filed 06/07/2006

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that on June 7, 2006 a copy of this "DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED 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