Free Motion to Stay - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:07-cv-00232-EJD

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Filed 07/31/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

CHRISTOPHER J. GRUSH, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant.

Case No. 07-232C (Chief Judge Damich)

MOTION FOR A STAY OF PROCEEDINGS Pursuant to Rules 1 and 7(b) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims, defendant respectfully requests, on behalf of both parties, that the Court stay further proceedings in this matter pending the outcome of settlement discussions and of a petition for a writ of certiorari in an indirectly related case. Counsel for the parties have conferred regarding the filing of this document, and counsel for plaintiff has represented to counsel for defendant that plaintiff concurs in the contents of this motion. Plaintiff asserts claims similar, if not identical, to the claims asserted in numerous other cases in this court, in which the parties are represented by the same counsel as in this case. Principally, plaintiff in this case alleges that he was not paid in accordance with the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., during certain times while he was employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") as a diversion investigator. Similar claims by other DEA diversion investigators are or were involved in Adams. v. United States, No. 90-162C, Boston v. United States, No. 01-518C, Giles v. United States, No. 04-1283C, English v. United States, No. 05-572C, Bagley v. United States, No. 06103C, Antilla v. United States, No. 06-139C, Evans v. United States, No. 06-183C, Albert v.

Case 1:07-cv-00232-EJD

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Filed 07/31/2007

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United States, No. 06-223C, Goralczyk v. United States, No. 06-283C, Aquino v. United States, No. 06-367C, Groves v. United States, No. 06-456C, Forbes v. United States, No. 06-510C, Hamilton v. United States, No. 06-680C, George v. United States, No. 06-776C, Stocum v. United States, No. 07-03C, Morgan v. United States, No. 07-205C, Breiner v. United States, No. 07-249C, Gibson, v. United States, No. 07-284C, Jaster v. United States, No. 07-299C, Brown v. United States, No. 07-325C, Chalmers v. United States, No. 07-361C, Crusan v. United States, No. 07-434C and Garner. v. United States, No. 07-525C. On June 29, 2007, the parties entered into a partial settlement agreement with respect to the FLSA claims of DEA diversion investigators in Adams, Boston, Giles, English, Bagley, Antilla, Evans, Albert, Aquino, George, and Stocum. The other cases were all filed within the past few months. There is a substantial likelihood that the FLSA claims of DEA diversion investigators in the latter cases ­ including this case ­ will be settled upon terms generally similar to those contained in the June 29, 2007 partial settlement agreement. One issue involved in these claims was not resolved in the June 29, 2007 partial settlement agreement, and it is unlikely that parties will resolve this issue through settlement: whether plaintiffs are entitled to be compensated for driving a Government-owned vehicle from home to work and work to home. This issue, however, was the subject of a decision relating to a different group of plaintiffs (principally, criminal investigators at DEA and several other agencies) in Adams v. United States, 471 F.3d 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2006), and, on July 27, 2007, those plaintiffs filed a petition for a writ of certiorari concerning that decision. Therefore, the parties propose to defer litigation of this issue pending the outcome of the petition for a writ of certiorari in Adams. The parties further propose that, within 14 days of the issuance by the Supreme Court of a decision granting or denying certiorari, they file a joint status report advising -2-

Case 1:07-cv-00232-EJD

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this Court of the Supreme Court's action and of the status of settlement negotiations if a settlement has not been achieved by that time. For the foregoing reasons, the parties respectfully request that the Court grant this motion to stay proceedings in this case pending the outcome of settlement discussions and of the petition for a writ of certiorari in Adams. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General

s/Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

Filed Electronically

s/Shalom Brilliant SHALOM BRILLIANT Senior Trial Counsel Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 616-8275 Fax: (202) 305-7643 Attorneys for Defendant

July 31, 2007

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