Free Motion for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:07-cv-00272-ECH

Document 23

Filed 03/04/2008

Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS MARK G. ABBEY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 07-272C (Judge Emily C. Hewitt)

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Defendant respectfully requests an enlargement of time of seven days, to and including March 12, 2008, within which to file its response to plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment and reply to plaintiffs' opposition to defendant's motion for summary judgment and motion to dismiss. is due on March 5, 2008. Our response currently

This is our third request for an

enlargement for this purpose, the Court having already granted us an additional 47 days. Plaintiffs' counsel has authorized us to

state that he does not object to this motion. In our previous requests for an enlargement of time, we noted that Government counsel was depending upon agency counsel to provide access to the factual information necessary to respond to the allegations in plaintiffs' brief. In addition, we stated

that agency counsel had been clear concerning their interest in having input into the preparation of all elements of our brief. We explained that agency counsels' insights into the legal portions of our response are particularly desirable in this case, given the unique personnel management system of the Federal

Case 1:07-cv-00272-ECH

Document 23

Filed 03/04/2008

Page 2 of 4

Aviation Administration with which agency counsel is, understandably, more familiar than Government counsel. We have now received all of the necessary information. It

was not, however, received sufficiently in advance of the date our response is currently due for us to be able to complete preparation of our response. For example, some factual

information, together with supporting declarations, was not provided until late yesterday. Additional time is necessary in

order to permit Government counsel time to review this information, to incorporate it into our response, and to secure supervisory review of our response before filing it with the Court. Government counsel has been working diligently on our response and was hopeful until now that we could file it on the date it is currently due. It is for that reason that this motion

for an enlargement of time is being filed at this relatively late date. At this time, however, it is clear that an extension of

time is necessary in order for us to prepare a response that will be accurate and useful to the Court. Accordingly, we

respectfully request that the Court grant this motion for an enlargement of time of 16 days, to and including March 12, 2008, within which to file our response to plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment and reply to plaintiffs' opposition to defendant's motion for summary judgment and motion to dismiss.

2

Case 1:07-cv-00272-ECH

Document 23

Filed 03/04/2008

Page 3 of 4

Respectfully submitted, JEFFREY S. BUCHULTZ Acting Assistant Attorney General

JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director S/Hillary A. Stern HILLARY A. STERN Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 616-0177 Facsimile: (202) 305-7643 Attorneys for Defendant March 4, 2008

3

Case 1:07-cv-00272-ECH

Document 23

Filed 03/04/2008

Page 4 of 4

4