Free Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:07-cv-00082-MBH

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS GULF GROUP GENERAL ENTERPRISES CO. W.L.L., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 07-82C (Judge Horn)

JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's order of April 9, 2007, the parties hereby file this Joint Status Report. On or about December 15, 2005 Plaintiff submitted a "claim and settlement offer" to the contracting officer. Plaintiff

contends that it is entitled to demurrage charges resulting from its delivery of bottled water to various camps for Operation Iraqi Freedom. After the contracting officer did not respond to

plaintiff's "claim and settlement offer," as required under 41 U.S.C. §605(c)(1) and (3), plaintiff's claim was deemed denied under 41 U.S.C. §605(c)(5), for which plaintiff filed its complaint with this Court on February 1, 2007. Counsel for the parties have discussed the matter, but are unable to resolve the matter at this time. In an attempt to

focus the issues, the parties have focused upon whether the Government was the cause of the demurrage charges as plaintiff alleges in its complaint. Plaintiff alleges that the Government

Case 1:07-cv-00082-MBH

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required that the trucks carrying bottled water travel accompanied with Army convoys which were delayed by the fault of the Government, thereby causing delays that resulted in Gulf Group incurring demurrage charges which are the subject of its complaint. The Government's position is that under the terms of the contract, delivery was Gulf Group's responsibility and that the contractor is liable for all equipment and personnel necessary to deliver the proper quantities and that the Government is not liable for demurrage charges, damages or delays caused during delivery. As the parties will not be able to resolve this matter without conducting discovery. The parties recommend that the

United States be given until July 6, 2007, to respond to the complaint. Respectfully submitted, s/ Iliaura Hands ILIAURA HANDS MILLER & WILLIAMSON LLC 3150 Energy Centre 1100 Poydras Street New Orleans, LA 70163 Tel: (504)525-9800 Attorney for Plaintiff PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

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s/ Todd M Hughes TODD M. HUGHES Assistant Director s/ Robert C. Bigler ROBERT C. BIGLER Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit, 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel: (202) 307-0315 Fax: (202) 514-8624 Attorneys for Defendant

June 8, 2007

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on this 8th day of June, 2007, a copy of the foregoing "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/ Robert C. Bigler

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