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

Case 1:06-cv-00936-TCW

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Filed 02/21/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS UNITED KEETOOWAH BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS IN OKLAHOMA, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant.

No. 06-936 L Judge Thomas C. Wheeler

JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY STAY OF LITIGATION The parties hereby jointly move for an extension of the temporary stay of litigation from February 21, 2008, to, and including, April 30, 2008. In support of this motion, the parties state, as follows: 1. The Court's Order of December 10, 2007 required the parties to file their Joint Status Report by February 21, 2008; 2. As noted in the parties' December 7, 2007 Joint Motion for Extension of Temporary Stay of Litigation, plaintiff's claims " . . . may well be affected by developments in another pending action involving the same parties - - that is, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma v. United States, No. 03-1433 L (the "'Arkansas Riverbed Case' ")." See paragraph No. 8 of the parties' December 7, 2007 Joint Motion; 3. Since November 30, 2007, the parties in the "Arkansas Riverbed Case," have been actively engaged in informal discovery and copies of archival documents have been exchanged;

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4. On February 8, 2008, the Defendant finished two weeks of research at the American Indians Records Repository (known as "AIRR") located at the Federal Records Center in Lenexa, Kansas. Defendant marked for imaging and coding approximately 6,000 pages of documents which are relevant (or potentially relevant) to threshold issues in the Arkansas Riverbed case; 5. The parties in the Arkansas Riverbed case agree that it will take them 30 days to review the cited documents and agree that this review will be an integral part of the ongoing settlement discussions in that case; 6. The Interior Department has requested additional time to March 31, 2008 to negotiate a possible resolution of Case No. 03-1433 L; 7. If the parties in the Arkansas Riverbed case are able to resolve Case No. 03-1433 L, then such an outcome will necessarily have an impact on the instant case; 8. Based upon the foregoing, the parties hereby respectfully request that the Court grant the following relief: a. Extend the temporary stay of litigation in this case to, and including, April 30, 2008; b. Continue the deferral of, among other things: (1) the obligation for Defendant to file its Answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint; and (2) the obligation of the parties to comply with the requirements of RCFC Appendix A, until the termination of the temporary stay; and c. Order that the parties file a joint status report on or before April 30, 2008, informing the Court of the status of their efforts to resolve the issues and claims of this case, and

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making a proposal - - by motion, if appropriate - - to the Court about whether and how to proceed with this case; and 9. On the one hand, the granting of this joint motion would serve the public interest by promoting judicial economy and efficiency and conserving the parties' limited resources. Further, it would not cause any prejudice or harm to the rights and interests of the parties herein. On the other hand, the denial of the joint motion would unduly interfere with the parties' ability to work with each other and devise an efficient, cost-effective, and resource-conserving way for resolving the issues and claims in this case and in plaintiff's U.S. District Court companion case, without the need for protracted litigation. Plaintiff's counsel has authorized the defendant's counsel to sign this document on this behalf. This is the third request for an enlargement of the stay of litigation in this case. Dated this 21st day of February 2008. /s/ James C. McMillin by /s/ James M. Upton, pursuant to written authorization provided on February 21, 2008 JAMES C. MCMILLIN MICHAEL D. McCLINTOCK McAfee & Taft, P.C. 10th Floor, Two Leadership Square 211 North Robinson Oklahoma City, OK 73102-7103 Telephone: (405) 235-9621 Facsimile: (405) 235-0439 Attorneys for Plaintiff RONALD J. TENPAS Assistant Attorney General /s/ James M. Upton JAMES M. UPTON ANTHONY P. HOANG United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division P.O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044-0663 Telephone: (202) 305-0482 Telephone: (202) 305-0241 Facsimile: (202) 353-2021

Attorneys for Defendants

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