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

Case 1:99-cv-02051-LAS

Document 52

Filed 03/05/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

ATHEY, ROBERT M., et al., Plaintiffs, v.

C.A. No. 99-2051C (Senior Judge Smith)

THE UNITED STATES, Defendant.

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME OUT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 6(b) of the Rules of this Court, defendant, the United States, respectfully requests a 45-day enlargement of time within which to respond to the discovery requests submitted by plaintiffs. The Government's response was due on March 3, 2008, therefore, the Government respectfully requests that the Court allow the Government to file its responses to plaintiffs' discovery out of time. The extension would bring the date for responding to the discovery to April 17, 2008. This is the defendant's first request for an enlargement of time for this purpose. Counsel for plaintiffs, Ira Lechner, has indicated that he does not oppose this enlargement. This request is necessitated by the fact that the discovery requests propounded by plaintiffs are massive in nature and require the Government to seek information from each of almost 300 Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") pay centers. Additionally, because the putative class here numbers over 300,000 former VA employees, the search for records is necessarily labor-intensive. The need to coordinate with various offices within the agency prevented completion of the discovery within the 30 days required. Furthermore, agency counsel in the case had recent personal issues which necessitated her absence from the office for

Case 1:99-cv-02051-LAS

Document 52

Filed 03/05/2008

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over three weeks, thus delaying the search for information. For these reasons, defendant respectfully requests that the Court grant defendant's motion for an enlargement of time of 45 days, to and including April 17, 2008, within which to respond to plaintiffs' discovery. Respectfully submitted, JEFFREY S. BUCHOLTZ Assistant Attorney General

JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

/s/ Todd M. Hughes TODD M. HUGHES Deputy Director OF COUNSEL: /s/ Sharon A. Snyder SHARON A. SNYDER Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 1100 L St., NW, 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 (202) 616-0347 Attorneys for Defendant

KATE M. RYAN General Attorney U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 801 Vermont Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C.

March 5, 2008

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Case 1:99-cv-02051-LAS

Document 52

Filed 03/05/2008

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on March 5, 2008, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S

MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME OUT 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/ Sharon A. Snyder