Free Motion to Amend/Correct - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:06-cv-00945-FMA

Document 38

Filed 11/29/2007

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UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS NAVAJO NATION ) f.k.a. NAVAJO TRIBE OF INDIANS, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Defendant. )

No. 06-945 L Judge Francis M. Allegra Electronically Filed November 29, 2007

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION TO CHANGE RECORD REVIEW SITE TO THE GALLUP, NEW MEXICO FEDERAL BUILDING AND TO MODIFY THE SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 RECORD RETENTION ORDER ACCORDINGLY Pursuant to Section 6(b) of the September 10, 2007 Record Retention Order ("RRO") entered in this case, the United States respectfully seeks permission of the Court to modify the record review site specified at Section 2(a) of the RRO from the Gallup BIA Warehouse in Gamerco, New Mexico ("Gamerco") to the Federal Building located at 301 W. Hill Avenue, Gallup, New Mexico 87301 ("Federal Building"). The grounds for this unopposed motion are set forth as follows: 1. On September 10, 2007, pursuant to motion by Plaintiff, the Navajo Nation, the Court entered an RRO requiring the preservation of relevant "documents, data, and tangible things" and establishing the location and schedule for Plaintiff's review of inactive Department of Interior documents. 2. Section 2 (a) of the RRO provides as follows: Defendant shall move Relevant Records that, as of the date of this order, are inactive as defined by the Department of Interior ("Interior") Manual Part 303, Chapter 6, and located at the Bureau of Indian Affairs ("BIA") Regional ("Gallup") Office, the BIA Navajo Regional Realty Office, and the BIA Fort Defiance Agency, and any predecessor offices therefor to the Gallup BIA Warehouse in Gamerco, New Mexico at which location such records shall be made available to plaintiff for purposes of inspection.

Case 1:06-cv-00945-FMA

Document 38

Filed 11/29/2007

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3. Since entry of the RRO, Labat-Anderson, Inc. contractors of Interior have completed a follow-up inspection of the Gamerco facility. During this inspection, certain flammable substances were found in the Gamerco Warehouse which had not been previously observed at the facility. 4. In light of the quantity and nature of these substances and the availability of space at the nearby Federal Building, officials of Interior's Office of Trust Records have concluded that the document review specified in the RRO should not take place at the Gamerco facility. 5. Document review at the Gallup Federal Building will obviate the need to move the documents currently stored at the Federal Building to the Gamerco facility. 6. Facilities at the Federal Building are equal or superior to those at the Gamerco Warehouse, and Plaintiff will not be prejudiced by this change in the record review site. In this regard, the review site will afford a review room with the dimensions of approximately 38 feet by 28 feet. 7. Defendant has conversed with Plaintiff's counsel concerning review of the inactive BIA records at the Gallup, New Mexico Federal Building, and, based on Defendant's aforenoted representations, Plaintiff's counsel does not oppose the change in facility. Based on the foregoing, the United States respectfully requests that the Court approve the review of inactive BIA records pursuant to Section 2(a) of the RRO at the Gallup Federal Building versus the Gamerco Warehouse and enter the proposed Amended RRO filed with this motion. Attachment 1 to this motion is the redline version of the requested change to the September 10, 2007 RRO. Attachment 2 is a clean copy of the revised order.

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Case 1:06-cv-00945-FMA

Document 38

Filed 11/29/2007

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Respectfully submitted, RONALD J. TENPAS Acting Assistant Attorney General s/Robert W. Rodrigues ROBERT W. RODRIGUES Trial Attorney JOHN MARTIN Trial Attorney E. KENNETH STEGEBY Trial Attorney Of Counsel: Teresa Dawson Office of the Chief Counsel Financial Management Service United States Department of the Treasury Gladys Orr Cojocari Tom Kearns Holly Clement Office of the Solicitor United States Department of the Interior 1849 C. Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20240 AYAKO SATO Trial Attorney United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044-0663 Telephone: 202.353.8839 Facsimile: 202.305.0506 Email: [email protected]

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