Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:90-cv-00162-LJB

Document 666

Filed 10/26/2007

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1N THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS STEPHEN ADAMS, et al., Plaintiffs,
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant.

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Case No. 90-162-C and Consolidated Cases (Judge Lynn J. Bush)

JOINT STATUS REPORT

Pursuant to the orders contained in the two partial summary judgment opinions issued by the court on September 21, 2007, the parties respectfully advise the Court as follows: 1. In the referenced opinions, the Court denied the Government's motions for partial

summary judgment concerning plaintiffs employed by the Office of Inspector General ("OIG") in the Departments of Health and Human Services ("HHS") and Housing and Urban Development ("HUD"), granted in part and denied in part plaintiffs' cross-motion for partial summary judgment as to the referenced plaintiffs, and directed the parties to file a joint status report proposing further proceedings regarding damages. 2. The determination of damages turns significantly upon the number of overtime

hours worked by each of the plaintiffs. Information and evidence concerning hours that are compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), but not under the Federal Employee Pay Act, lies primarily with the individual plaintiffs, because this information would not appear in the time and attendance records maintained by the Government for employees, such as plaintiffs, who were classified as exempt from the FLSA during these periods. If the parties proceed to either litigate or stipulate to the amount of damages due each plaintiff, the starting

Case 1:90-cv-00162-LJB

Document 666

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point would be to ascertain the number of overtime hours worked by each plaintiff during each relevant pay period. 3. Alternatively, if the parties were to reach a settlement of the claims in question,

damages could be estimated based upon a methodology similar to that utilized in various previous partial settlement agreements settling the claims of other plaintiffs in these consolidated actions. However, if the possibility of settlement is to be pursued, the parties believe that they should explore a broader settlement covering plaintiffs who were employed in the OIG of various agencies in addition to HHS and HUD. This would avoid piecemeal litigation and/or settlement of numerous claims that are generally similar to the claims of the plaintiffs covered by the Court's September 21, 2007 decisions. In addition, it may be possible to negotiate a settlement of various OIG plaintiffs in conjunction with various non-OIG plaintiffs. 5. The parties propose that, in lieu of litigating damages at this time with respect to

the plaintiffs covered by the Court's September 21, 2007 decision, the parties be given an opportunity to explore the possibility of a settlement encompassing, but not limited to, those plaintiffs. The parties further propose that they submit a joint status report on or before January 25, 2008, to apprise the Court of the status of this effort.

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Case 1:90-cv-00162-LJB

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Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General

Director JULES BERNSTEIN Bernstein & Lipsett, P.C. 1920 L Street, N.W. Suite 303 Washington, D.C. 20036 OF COUNSEL: LINDA LIPSETT Tel: (202) 296-1798 Fax: (202) 296-7220

SHALOM BRILLIANT Senior Trial Counsel Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel: (202) 616-8275 Fax: (202) 305-7643 OF COUNSEL: Michael J. Dierberg William Rayel Trial Attorneys Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attorneys for Defendant Dated: October 26, 2007

James & Hoffman, P.C. 1101 17th Street, N.W. Suite 510 Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel: (202) 496-0500 Fax: (202) 496-0555 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Dated: October 26, 2007

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