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

Case 1:07-cv-00877-JFM

Document 9

Filed 03/13/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS MAINE YANKEE ATOMIC POWER COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 07-877C (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, defendant, the United States, respectfully requests an enlargement of time of 15 days, to and including March 28, 2008, within which to respond to plaintiff's complaint. Defendant's response is due on March 13, 2008. Defendant was previously granted an enlargement of time of 30 days for this purpose. Counsel for plaintiff, William J. Kayatta, Jr., has represented that plaintiff does not oppose this motion. This case and two others that were filed on the same day as this case relate to the same three contracts ­ the Standard Contract For Disposal Of Spent Nuclear Fuel And/Or High-Level Radioactive Waste ­ that were the subject of the Court's recent judgments in earlier cases filed by Yankee Atomic Electric Company (Docket No. 98-126C), Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company (Docket No. 98-154C), and Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (Docket No. 98-474C). Appeals from those judgments are currently pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and oral argument in those appeals was held on February 4, 2008. We are discussing with counsel for plaintiff the possibility of requesting a stay of this case, at least pending the resolution of those appeals, to preclude the need to conduct discovery into matters that, depending on the manner in which the appellate court resolves the pending

Case 1:07-cv-00877-JFM

Document 9

Filed 03/13/2008

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appeals, may become unnecessary or no longer the subject of serious dispute. The parties have agreed to continue their discussions regarding this matter during the next week, and we expect that, on or before March 28, 2008, we will be prepared to make a proposal to the Court regarding future proceedings here. Unfortunately, activities in other spent nuclear fuel cases, including the preparation of the Government's initial brief in Delmarva Power & Light Co. v. United States, No. 2008-5010 (Fed. Cir.), which we filed on March 12, 2008, and other case-related matters, have delayed counsel for defendant's ability to devote his attention to this matter. To provide the parties time to continue these discussions, we respectfully request that the Court grant this unopposed request for an enlargement of time. Respectfully submitted, JEFFREY S. BUCHOLTZ Acting Assistant Attorney General

s/ Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

OF COUNSEL: JANE K. TAYLOR Office of 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 Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 616-0478 Fax: (202) 307-2503 Attorneys for Defendant

March 13, 2008

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Case 1:07-cv-00877-JFM

Document 9

Filed 03/13/2008

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that, on this 13th day of March 2008, a copy of foregoing "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/ Harold D. Lester, Jr.