Free Motion for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:06-cv-00442-TCW

Document 17

Filed 04/05/2007

Page 1 of 2

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS _________________________________________ ) JUSTINA CORCELLES HERNANDEZ, ) REV. FR. PRISCO E. ENTINES, ) FRANCISCO GUTIEREZ FERRER, ) JULIETA TABOADA ABELLA, ) MARIA LAPAY LAURENCIANO, and ) No. 06-191C WENCESLAO N. RODRIGUEZ, ) No. 06-193C ) No. 06-205C Plaintiffs, ) No. 06-434C ) No. 06-442C v. ) No. 06-449C ) THE UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) __________________________________________) DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME, OUT OF TIME, TO REPLY TO PLAINTIFFS' RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR A MORE DEFINITE STATEMENT Defendant respectfully requests the Court to grant a 26-day enlargement of time, out of time, to and including April 18, 2007, within which to file our reply to plaintiffs' March 9, 2007 response to our motion for a more definite statement. The reply was due on March 23, 2007. Counsel for defendant was advised by plaintiff's counsel, Richard Arnholt, on April 4, 2007, that plaintiff opposes the motion. No previous enlargements of time have been requested for this purpose. The reason for this enlargement of time, and the reason that this motion is made out of time, is that the attorney of record assigned to this case was recently out of the office for extended sick leave, unexpectedly, for more than three weeks. During this period of time, plaintiffs' response was filed and served upon the Government. It was not until after Government counsel returned to duty, and after the deadline for filing the Government's reply had passed, that Government counsel learned for the first time that the deadline for submitting

Case 1:06-cv-00442-TCW

Document 17

Filed 04/05/2007

Page 2 of 2

the Government's reply had passed. Counsel has now begun preparations to fully reply to plaintiffs' response. Additional time is also requested for this purpose, however, because of counsel's continuing backlog of work and Government counsel's unavailability from August 2, 2007 until August 9, 2007. For these reasons, we respectfully request the Court grant this motion for an enlargement of time, out of time, to extend the Government's deadline for filing its reply brief until April 18, 2007. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

/s/ Donald E. Kinner DONALD E. KINNER Assistant Director

/s/ Kenneth S. Kessler KENNETH S. KESSLER Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Department of Justice Tel: (202) 307-0313 Fax: (202) 305-7643 April 5, 2007 Attorneys for Defendant