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

Case 1:07-cv-00194-FMA

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Filed 05/11/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS JOHN ANDERSON FARMS, INC., et al. Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 07-194C (Judge Allegra)

JOINT MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS Pursuant to Rule 7 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims, the parties jointly request that proceedings in this case be stayed pending disposition of the appeal in Klamath Irrigation District et al. v. United States, no. 01-591L, 01-591L through 01-59125 L (Fed. Cl.), appeal pending (Fed. Cir.) (notice of appeal filed, May 4, 2007). Absent the grant of this motion, the United States' response to the complaint would be due on or before May 21, 2007. Plaintiffs filed their complaint in this case on March 22, 2007. The complaint alleges that plaintiffs are agricultural landowners "who own farmland in the Klamath Basin located on the Oregon and California line." Complaint ("Compl.") ¶ 1. The complaint further alleges that the United States breached irrigation contracts in 2001 when it shut off water from the irrigation systems to protect species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 5-6, 9. Plaintiffs have alleged claims based upon breach of contract, Counts I and II, and Takings, Count III. Plaintiffs have filed a statement of related case that identifies this case as "directly related" to Klamath. In that statement, plaintiffs stated that "the same or

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substantially similar contracts are involved between the Bureau of Reclamation and the various irrigation districts in which plaintiffs reside and rely upon for irrigating their farmlands." In Klamath, agricultural landowners and irrigation districts in the Klamath Basin brought suit against the United States alleging that the actions of the United States in 2001 constituted a breach of contract and a Taking without just compensation. On August 31, 2005, this Court granted summary judgment for the United States upon the Takings claims. Klamath Irrigation District, et al. v. United States, 69 Fed. Cl. 160 (2005). On March 16, 2007, this Court granted the United States summary judgment upon the contract claims. Upon considering the United States' actions pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, this Court determined "sovereign acts occurred here that prevented defendant from performing under the contracts and that no breach of the contracts at issue occurred." Klamath Irrigation District, et al. v. United States, 75 Fed. Cl. 677, 695 (2007). This Court entered judgment in Klamath on March 19, 2007, and the Klamath plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal on May 4, 2007. The Klamath appeal involves the irrigation or drainage districts whose contracts plaintiffs in this case referenced in the complaint and Klamath involves the same events and claims as raised here. Consequently, the disposition of the appeal in Klamath is likely to significantly affect this case. A stay of this case pending the disposition of Klamath will conserve the resources of the Court and the parties and help to insure
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that the efforts of the Court and the parties are not duplicative of matters that may be resolved or influenced by the Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit's consideration of Klamath. For the foregoing reasons, the parties respectfully requests that the Court stay proceedings in this case pending disposition of the appeal in Klamath. Upon the entry of a stay of proceedings, we request that the parties be permitted to file a status report with the Court within thirty days following the final disposition of Klamath on appeal.1

Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General s/ Alan Saltman ALAN SALTMAN Saltman & Stevens, P.C. Suite M-110 1801 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 452-2140 s/ Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

In the alternative, the United States, with plaintiffs' consent, respectfully requests the Court to grant the United States an enlargement of time of 120 days within which to respond to the complaint. By that time, briefing in Klamath will have proceeded and the parties will have had an opportunity to further consider the issues posed here in light of the issues decided by this Court in Klamath.
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s/ Kirk T. Manhardt KIRK T. MANHARDT Senior Trial Counsel Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, DC 20530 Tel. (202) 353-0541 Fax (202) 305-7643 Attorneys for Defendant. May 11, 2007

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on this 11th day of May 2007, a copy of the foregoing "JOINT MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS" 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/ Kirk Manhardt