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

Case 1:07-cv-00706-FMA

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Filed 01/22/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS No. 07-706 T (Judge Francis M. Allegra) PRINCIPAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES, Plaintiff v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME

Defendant, the United States, respectfully moves the Court for an enlargement of time of 60 days, from January 25, 2008, to and including March 25, 2008, within which to file its response to the complaint in this case. This is the second enlargement requested for this purpose, the first having been allowed for 60 days. We are authorized to state that plaintiff has no objection to the granting of this motion. As grounds for our request, defendant states that the enlargement is necessary for two reasons. First, as explained in our first motion for enlargement, because of the nature of the issues raised in the complaint in this case, preparation of the defense recommendation requires coordination with a different regional office from the office in St. Paul, Minnesota, that has traditionally been assigned to handle matters involving plaintiff's insurance tax issues. We have been advised recently that coordination with several branches within the IRS Chief Counsel's national office is also required. And, as it turned out, approximately 75 boxes of administrative files pertaining to the issues raised
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Case 1:07-cv-00706-FMA

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in the complaint (25 more than had been located at the time our first motion was filed) have been assembled and are being reviewed by the IRS attorney who is preparing the draft defense recommendation in the St. Paul office. (As we explained in our prior motion, at least some of those files contain information relating to other taxpayers that must be segregated prior to forwarding of the relevant files to defendant's counsel.) Second, in November, this case was reassigned to William C. Rapp as attorney of record for defendant, but it then needed to be reassigned because of docket scheduling concerns. It was reassigned in December to George L. Squires as attorney of record. Because of a family medical emergency that has developed into a situation of uncertain duration, Mr. Squires is now on extended leave and his active cases must be reassigned. As of this date, a reassignment has not been determined.1 We believe that the additional 60-day enlargement requested herein will permit resolution of the matters discussed, and that no additional enlargements will be necessary for preparation and filing of the response to the complaint.

1/The original attorney of record, Mary M. Abate, is filing this motion because she is still listed as such on the Court's docket for this case. -23006497.1

Case 1:07-cv-00706-FMA

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Filed 01/22/2008

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Respectfully submitted, January 22, 2008 s/ Mary M. Abate MARY M. ABATE Attorney of Record U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division Court of Federal Claims Section Post Office Box 26 Ben Franklin Post Office Washington, D.C. 20044 (202) 307-6507 NATHAN J. HOCHMAN Assistant Attorney General DAVID GUSTAFSON Chief, Court of Federal Claims Section STEVEN I. FRAHM Assistant Chief s/ Steven I. Frahm Of Counsel

January 22, 2008

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