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

Case 1:07-cv-00157-LAS

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Filed 12/21/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ________________________________________________ ) PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, ) SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY, ) AND CALIFORNIA ELECTRICITY ) OVERSIGHT BOARD, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) No. 07-157C ) (Senior Judge Smith) ) THE UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) ________________________________________________) ) SAN DIEGO GAS & ELECTRIC CO., ) ) Plaintiff, ) No. 07-167C ) (Senior Judge Smith) v. ) ) ) THE UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) ) DEFENDANT'S THIRD MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME TO FILE A RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFFS' COMPLAINTS Defendant respectfully requests an enlargement of time of 30 days, to and including February 7, 2008, within which to file our response to plaintiffs' complaints. Our response is now due to be filed on January 8, 2008. This is defendant's third request for an enlargement of time for this purpose. Plaintiffs' counsel has informed us that plaintiffs oppose this motion. Counsel for the United States has made extensive progress preparing defendant's response to plaintiffs' complaints. As we noted in our previous motion to enlarge, we have

Case 1:07-cv-00157-LAS

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Filed 12/21/2007

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encountered an issue requiring significant coordination between the relevant agencies and review by high level officials within the Department of Justice. Further deliberations concerning the issue resulted in the need for elevation to a higher level of review. An enlargement until February 7, 2008, should provide defendant sufficient time to finish its review and complete a response. The issue concerns the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain these suits. Accordingly, resolution of the issue is critical to our ability to file a comprehensive response to plaintiffs' complaints, and to avoid multiple filings. We recognize that our requests have delayed these proceedings, and we regret any inconvenience we may have caused the plaintiffs or the Court. Our need for additional time has occurred notwithstanding our best efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Given our request, and consistent with previous scheduling in this case, we would have no objection to a corresponding shift in plaintiffs' time to file a response to our response to plaintiffs' complaints. In the Court's November 30, 2007 order granting our previous motion to enlarge, the Court set plaintiffs' response date as March 14, 2008, and defendant's reply date as April 14, 2008. Thus, we would concur with moving plaintiffs' response date to April 16, 2008, and our reply date to May 14, 2008. Respectfully submitted, JEFFREY S. BUCHOLTZ Acting Assistant Attorney General s/ Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

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Case 1:07-cv-00157-LAS

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OF COUNSEL: Sean B. McNamara Trial Attorney Department of Justice Peter Burger Attorney Bonneville Power Administration John D. Bremer Attorney Western Area Power Administration December 21, 2007

s/ Mark A. Melnick MARK A. MELNICK Assistant Director Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit, 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 616-0475 Fax: (202) 305-7644

Attorneys for Defendant

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Case 1:07-cv-00157-LAS

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Filed 12/21/2007

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on this 21st day of December, 2007, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S THIRD MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME TO FILE A RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFFS' COMPLAINTS" 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/ Mark A. Melnick