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

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS THE SALT RIVER PIMA-MARICOPA, INDIAN COMMUNITY, ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________________)

Case No. 06-943L Judge Lawrence M. Baskir Electronically filed 2/21/07

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME WITHIN WHICH TO ANSWER OR OTHERWISE RESPOND TO THE COMPLAINT AND [PROPOSED] ORDER Pursuant to Rule 6.1 of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (RCFC), Defendant United States of America respectfully moves this Court for a thirty (30) day enlargement of time, to and including March 27, 2007 within which to file an Answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint. This motion is Defendant's first such motion. The grounds for this motion are as follows: 1. Plaintiff filed this case on December 29, 2006. Additionally, Plaintiff

simultaneously filed a companion case for declaratory and injunctive relief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v. Kempthorne, No. 06-cv-02241 (D.D.C.). Plaintiff's allegations in both cases relate to the trust accounting and trust mismanagement duties and responsibilities allegedly owed by Defendant to Plaintiff. 2. Under RFCF 12, the deadline for Defendant to file its Answer or otherwise respond

to the Complaint is currently February 27, 2007. 3. In addition to this case and Plaintiff's companion case in the United States District

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Court, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, No. 06-cv-02241-JR, Plaintiff's counsel have filed or are handling 6 other lawsuits against Defendant and/or the Secretaries of the Interior and the Treasury and the Special Trustee for American Indians, on behalf of 3 other tribes, in this Court and in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In total, Plaintiff's counsel are currently representing 4 Tribes (including Plaintiff), and, on behalf of those Tribes, they have filed or are handling 4 cases for damages in this Court (including this case)1/ and 4 companion cases for declaratory and injunctive relief in the United States District Court.2/ All of these cases are Tribal trust accounting and trust mismanagement cases. 4. By counsel's computation, there are presently about 103 Tribal trust accounting and

trust mismanagement lawsuits pending in this Court, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and in the United States District Courts in Oklahoma. Approximately 78 of these 103 cases were initiated within the last months of 2006. See Exhibit 1. This number includes the 8 cases that have been filed or that are being handled by Plaintiff's counsel. 5. Since the initiation of the 78 newly-filed cases referenced in paragraph 4 above,

counsel for Defendant has diligently attempted to confer with each of the 31 opposing counsels involved with the 103 Tribal trust accounting and trust mismanagement lawsuits to reach a

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The 4 cases that Plaintiff's counsel have filed or are handling in this Court are Ak-Chin Indian Community v. United States, No. 06-cv-00932-ECH; Passamaquoddy Tribe v. United States, No. 06-cv-00942-LJB; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v. United States, No. 06-cv-00943; and Tohono O'Odham Nation v. United States, No. 06-cv-00944-EGB. The 4 cases that Plaintiff's counsel have filed or are handling in the United States District Court are Ak-Chin Indian Community v. Kempthorne, No. 06-cv-02245-JR; Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine v. Kempthorne, No. 06-cv-02240-JR; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v. Kempthorne, No. 06-cv-02241; and Tohono O'Odham Nation v. Kempthorne, No. 06-cv-02236-JR. 2
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consensus about devising an efficient and effective manner by which to proceed; this has been a time-consuming endeavor. 6. Of the newly-filed cases described above, a large majority of the Plaintiffs are

presently willing to suspend or extend the pleading deadlines to permit the parties an opportunity to discuss the feasibility of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Proceedings or other means of resolving the case short of formal litigation. Defense counsel understands that Plaintiff in this case is not willing at present to suspend or extend the pleading deadlines. Accordingly, the Defendant has diligently begun to prepare its Answer or other response to the Complaint. However, the sheer volume and logistics of handling the newly filed cases, as compared with the presently limited resources of the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and the Interior, prevents Defendant from being able to complete its Answer or other response in this case by the February 27, 2007 filing deadline. Defendant has now assigned counsel to this case, who are diligently preparing the Answer or other response, and obtaining the appropriate review of the papers at the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior, as well as the Department of the Treasury. Additionally, one of Defendant's co-counsel is scheduled for jury duty during the week of February 26. 7. Counsel for Defendant, Anthony P. Hoang contacted counsel for Plaintiff Keith

Harper about this motion on February 20, 2007. Mr. Harper reported that Plaintiff does not oppose the extension requested in this motion. 8. On the one hand, the granting of this motion will not unduly prejudice the rights and

interests of the parties in this case . On the other hand, the denial of this motion will adversely affect the ability of Defendants to prepare adequately the necessary papers for, and to obtain the appropriate review of those papers before, filing in this case.

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WHEREFORE, Defendant respectfully requests that its unopposed motion for enlargement of time be granted. Respectfully submitted this 21st day of February, 2007,

MATTHEW J. MCKEOWN ACTING ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL /s/ Kevin J. Larsen Kevin J. Larsen, Attorney of Record United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044-0663 Tel: (202) 305-0258 Fax: (202) 353-2021 Attorney of Record for Defendants

OF COUNSEL: JOHN H. MARTIN U.S. Department of Justice Natural Resources Section 1961 Stout Street, 8th Floor Denver, CO 80294 Tel: (303) 844-1383 Fax: (303) 844-1350 ANTHONY P. HOANG United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044-0663 Tel: (202) 305-0241 Fax: (202) 353-2021 KENNETH DALTON 4

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Office of the Solicitor United States Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 20240

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on February 21, 2007, I served the foregoing Motion For Extension of Time by causing a full, true and correct copy thereof to be sent to the following persons by Electronic Service pursuant to General Order 42A: Keith Harper, Attorney of Record for Plaintiff G. William Austin, Attorney for Plaintiff Dated this 21st day of February 2007. /s/ Kevin J. Larsen Kevin J. Larsen United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044-0663 Tel: (202) 305-0456 Tel: (202 305-0241 Fax: (202) 353-2021 [email protected] Attorney for the Federal Defendants

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