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

Case 1:07-cv-00127-MMS

Document 6

Filed 04/19/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS EDEN ISLE MARINA, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) No. 07-127 C ) (Judge Damich) ) ) )

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 6(b)(1) and 6.1 of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC), defendant United States respectfully requests a forty-five day enlargement of time, to and including June 11, 2007, to file a response to the complaint. Our response is currently due on April 27. This is defendant's first request for an enlargement for this purpose. On April 18, 2007, counsel for defendant spoke with Kelly Halstead, counsel for the plaintiff, who indicated that plaintiff does not oppose this motion. Upon being assigned responsibility for this matter, defendant's counsel promptly forwarded a copy of the complaint to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Counsel was first able to speak to the agency counsel on March 14, 2007. The agency has advised us that it will be unable to provide counsel with the statutorily required litigation report in sufficient time for counsel to prepare a response to the complaint by the current due date. The lease documents are extensive, the complaint runs to approximately 60 pages, and contains 212 separate allegations. Furthermore, despite the agency's efforts to produce a litigation report to counsel, it has recently experienced computer malfunctions that have resulted in the report's unavailability. Agency counsel states that he will be away from the office the week of April 23, 2007, and defendant's

Case 1:07-cv-00127-MMS

Document 6

Filed 04/19/2007

Page 2 of 3

counsel is currently representing the Government in a bid protest, Southern Foods, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cl. No. 07-210, where the scheduling order sets out weekly filing deadlines through May 3, 2007. This enlargement is necessary to ensure adequate time for the agency to prepare a litigation report, as well as adequate time for defendant's counsel to prepare a thorough response, and to obtain the necessary supervisory review of the Government's response. For the foregoing reasons, defendant respectfully requests the Court to grant this motion for enlargement of time of forty-five days, to and including June 11, 2007, within which to file a response to the plaintiff's complaint. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

MARK A. MELNICK Assistant Director

/s/ Joan M. Stentiford JOAN M. STENTIFORD Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 616-0341 Fax: (202) 514-8624 April 19, 2007 2 Attorneys for Defendant

Case 1:07-cv-00127-MMS

Document 6

Filed 04/19/2007

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that on this _19 th day of April, 2007, the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S 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. Parties may access this filing through the Court's system.

__/s/ Joan M. Stentiford JOAN M. STENTIFORD