Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:02-cv-01228-TCW

Document 79

Filed 01/14/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS GULF INSURANCE CO. and THE MOUNTBATTEN SURETY CO., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 02-1228C (Judge Wheeler)

EIGHTH JOINT STATUS REPORT On November 2, 2007, the Court ordered the parties to report , no later than December 1, 2007, on their intended course of action following the court of appeals decision in National American Insurance Company v. United States, Fed. Cir. No. 2007-5016 ("NAICO"). On November 30, 2007, the parties reported that they intended to discuss settling the litigation. On December 4, 2007, the Court ordered the parties to report the status of those settlement negotiations no later than January 16, 2008. While not yet complete, the parties have discussed settlement of the individual complaints filed by each plaintiff against the United States and that effort continues. The United States has received a settlement offer from Gulf Insurance, which is currently being considered. Similarly, the United States has received a settlement offer from Mountbatten Surety Company. While Mountbatten's offer is also under consideration, it is in an earlier phase of review than is Gulf's.

Case 1:02-cv-01228-TCW

Document 79

Filed 01/14/2008

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If the offers are accepted by the authorized representative of the Attorney General, the parties will enter into stipulations for entry of judgment, one for each plaintiff. Undoubtedly, the negotiation of the content of those stipulations will take time. In view of the nature of the progress made towards resolution of these complaints and the effort necessary to completely resolve the plaintiffs' complaints, the parties request that they be allowed another 45 days in which to negotiate resolution of these cases. Further, unless the parties sooner file stipulations for the entry of judgment relating to the separate complaints of Mountbatten and Gulf, on or before February 29, 2008, the parties will file a joint status report informing the Court of the status of settlement negotiations for each of the cases. Respectfully submitted, JEFFREY S. BUCHOLTZ Acting Assistant Attorney General

JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

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Case 1:02-cv-01228-TCW

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s/ Eric R. Stanco ERIC R. STANCO Eric R. Stanco & Associates 126 C Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 s/ Robert G. Barbour ROBERT G. BARBOUR Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, L.L.P. 7929 Westpark Drive, Suite 400 McLean, Virginia 22102

s/ Deborah A. Bynum DEBORAH A. BYNUM Assistant Director

s/ Ronald G. Morgan RONALD G. MORGAN Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, DC 20530 Tel. (202) 307-0367 Fax (202) 514-7969 Attorneys for Defendant

Attorneys for Plaintiffs

January 14, 2008

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Case 1:02-cv-01228-TCW

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that, on this 14th day of January 2008, a copy of the foregoing "EIGHTH JOINT STATUS REPORT" 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/ Ronald G. Morgan Eric R. Stanco, Esquire Eric R. Stanco & Associates 126 C Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001

Robert G. Barbour, Esquire Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, L.L.P. 7929 Westpark Drive, Suite 400 McLean, Virginia 22102