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

Case 1:07-cv-00226-RHH

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Filed 08/01/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

SITCO GENERAL TRADING AND CONTRACTING CO., W.W.L., a Kuwait Corporation, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant.

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No. 07-226C (Judge Hodges)

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 7 of the rules of this Court, defendant, the United States, respectfully requests an enlargement of time of 60 days, to and including October 5, 2007, within which to file its response to the complaint of Sitco General Trading and Contracting Co., W.W.L. ("Sitco"). Our response is currently due to be filed on August 6, 2007. This is our second request for an enlargement of time for this purpose. Government counsel has contacted Sitco's counsel, who stated via electronic mail on July 31, 2007, that Sitco does not oppose this request. As stated in our first motion for an enlargement of time, we have sent to the interested agency, the Department of the Army ("Army"), a copy of the complaint with a request for a litigation report and suggested response to the complaint, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 520.1 Additional time is needed for the Army to gather and review any information necessary for

Section 520 provides that, "[i]n suits against the United States in the United States Court of Federal Claims . . . founded on a contract, agreement, or transaction with an executive department . . . the Attorney General shall send to the department . . . a printed copy of the petition filed by the claimant, with a request that the department . . . furnish to the Attorney General all facts, circumstances, and evidence concerning the claim in the possession or knowledge of the department," and that, "[w]ithin a reasonable time after receipt of the request of the Attorney General, the executive department . . . shall furnish the Attorney General with a written statement of all facts, information, and proofs." 28 U.S.C. § 520.

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Case 1:07-cv-00226-RHH

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preparation of its litigation report and suggested response to the complaint. This case concerns events which, according to the allegations in Sitco's complaint, took place entirely in Iraq. Accordingly, all of the relevant documents are located in Iraq, where ongoing hostilities make obtaining access to these documents quite difficult. Furthermore, several of the Government personnel who would have knowledge about the events alleged in the complaint are no longer located in Iraq, and therefore unable to assist in the search for relevant documents. In addition, the whereabouts of some of these personnel are still unknown, despite diligent efforts by the Army to locate them. Finally, given the ongoing hostilities, the undersigned counsel and her counterpart at the Army are unable to travel to the region to assist in the effort to locate relevant documents and information. For these reasons, it is taking an unusually long time to collect the relevant documents and for Army counsel responsible for litigation in that region to prepare the litigation report. Once the information gathering process is complete, the Army will necessarily require time to prepare the requested litigation report and suggested response to the complaint, and to deliver to Government counsel the litigation report and suggested response to the complaint. Once the litigation report is received, Government counsel will require sufficient time to review the litigation report and suggested response to the complaint, obtain any additional information or clarification from the Army, and prepare and file our response to the complaint, following mandatory supervisory review. Government counsel anticipates receiving the litigation report in sufficient time that a response to the complaint may be filed by October 5, 2007. However, given the events in Iraq, additional time may be required. We greatly regret any inconvenience this delay may cause to the Court or the parties.

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For these reasons, we respectfully request that the Court grant our unopposed motion for a 60-day enlargement of time within which to file our response to plaintiff's complaint. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director /s Martin F. Hockey, Jr. MARTIN F. HOCKEY, JR. Assistant Director /s Maame A.F. Ewusi-Mensah MAAME A.F. EWUSI-MENSAH Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L St., NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 353-0503 Fax: (202) 514-8624 August 1, 2007 Attorneys for Defendant

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on this 1st day of August, 2007, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME" 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. The parties may access this filing through the Court's system.

s/ Maame A.F. Ewusi-Mensah