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

Case 1:07-cv-00320-MCW

Document 5

Filed 07/16/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS HORACE L. BROCKINGTON, et al., Plaintiffs, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Case No. 07-320C (Judge Williams)

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Defendant respectfully requests that this Court grant defendant an enlargement of time of 60 days, to and including September 17, 2007, within which to respond to plaintiff's complaint. Defendant's response currently is due on July 19, 2007. This is defendant's first request for an enlargement of time for this purpose. Plaintiffs do not oppose the instant motion. Our motion for an enlargement of time is necessary because additional time is required to enable counsel for the agency sufficient time to provide us with a complete litigation report in this matter. We rely upon agency counsel to prepare a litigation report pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 520 concerning the case so that we may properly respond to actions filed against the United States. Agency counsel's duties and responsibilities in preparing the litigation report are very time consuming, as she or he must investigate the allegations made, interview witnesses, and analyze the complaint. Indeed, in this case, there are nine individual plaintiffs and agency counsel is in the process of collecting and analyzing documents from several different locations. Once agency counsel prepares a litigation report, we must review it and respond to plaintiff's complaint accordingly. As a result, additional time is needed so that counsel may adequately respond to plaintiff's complaint. We regret the late filing of this motion. Until very

Case 1:07-cv-00320-MCW

Document 5

Filed 07/16/2007

Page 2 of 3

recently, however, we believed that we would be able to file our response by the current deadline. For the foregoing reasons, defendant respectfully requests that the Court grant its motion for an enlargement of time of 60 days, to and including September 17, 2007, within which defendant must respond to the complaint.

Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General

JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

s/ Todd M. Hughes TODD M. HUGHES Deputy Director

s/ Matthew H. Solomson MATTHEW H. SOLOMSON Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit, 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel: (202) 305-3274 Fax: (202) 514-8624 July 16, 2007 Attorneys for Defendant

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Case 1:07-cv-00320-MCW

Document 5

Filed 07/16/2007

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that, on this 16th day of July 2007, I caused to be filed electronically the foregoing DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME with the United States Court of Federal Claims. 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/ Matthew H. Solomson MATTHEW H. SOLOMSON