Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:06-cv-00373-MCW

Document 10

Filed 03/19/2007

Page 1 of 2

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ______________________________________________________________________________ JAMES A. NORWERS, ET AL., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES Defendant. ______________________________________________________________________________ JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's Order of June 23, 2006, the parties respectfully submit the following Joint Status Report to apprise the Court of the status of their efforts to resolve this and numerous closely-related cases through the Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") pilot program. As previously reported, the parties have reached a proposed settlement agreement that has been approved by the Department of Agriculture and recommended for approval within the Department of Justice. At this time, the proposed settlement remains under active consideration within the Department of Justice. The Government anticipates that a final decision whether to approve the proposed settlement will be made by April 2, 2007. The proposed agreement encompasses over 250 Section 515 prepayment cases pending before the Court involving approximately 800 properties ­ including this case. Plaintiffs formally submitted the agreement to defendant as an offer of settlement on August 23, 2006, after which status conferences with Judge Horn were held on August 25, 2006, September 27, 2006, October 19, 2006, November 16, 2006, December 8, 2006, January 9, 2007, February 13, File No. 06-373 (Judge Mary Ellen Coster Williams)

Case 1:06-cv-00373-MCW

Document 10

Filed 03/19/2007

Page 2 of 2

2007, February 22, 2007, and March 7, 2007. Defendant also filed status reports in connection with the ADR proceedings on January 8, 2007, February 1, 2007, March 1, 2007, and March 14, 2007. An additional status conference is scheduled for March 20, 2007, at which time the parties will further report on the status of the settlement approval process. Thus, the parties request that this matter continue to be stayed until the settlement agreement has been approved and executed by defendant. The parties will report to the Court once the approval process is complete. Respectfully submitted, s/ Jeff H. Eckland JEFF H. ECKLAND Mark J. Blando, Of Counsel ECKLAND & BLANDO LLP 500 Lumber Exchange 10 South Fifth Street Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 Telephone: (612) 236-0160 Facsimile: (612) 236-0179 Jerry W. Snider, Of Counsel William L. Roberts, Of Counsel FAEGRE & BENSON LLP 2200 Wells Fargo Center Minneapolis, MN 55402 Telephone: (612) 766-7000 Facsimile: (612) 766-1600 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Dated: March 19, 2007 Filed Electronically with the Consent of the Attorney for Defendant Attorneys for Defendant PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General s/ Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director s/ Shalom Brilliant SHALOM BRILLIANT Senior Trial Counsel Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit Room 8012 Washington, D.C. 20530 Telephone: (202) 616-8275 Facsimile: (202) 305-7643

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