Case 1:06-cv-00241-LJB
Document 10
Filed 02/28/2007
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ______________________________________________________________________________ ROYAL HILLS PHASE II LIMITED Partnership, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES Defendant. ______________________________________________________________________________ JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's Order of June 2, 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 Department of Justice is actively engaged in the approval process. Among other things, a high-level inter-agency meeting was held recently, at which the proposed agreement was discussed in detail. The Government anticipates that a final decision whether to approve the proposed settlement will be made by April 2, 2007. The 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 File No. 06-241 (Judge Lynn J. Bush)
Case 1:06-cv-00241-LJB
Document 10
Filed 02/28/2007
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19, 2006, November 16, 2006, December 8, 2006, January 9, 2007, February 13, 2007, and February 22, 2007. Defendant also filed status reports in connection with the ADR proceedings on January 8, 2007 and February 1, 2007. Most recently, Judge Horn issued an Order on February 22, 2007 which (1) requests that defendant file a status report by March 1, 2007, and (2) schedules a status conference for March 7, 2007 to further discuss 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: February 28, 2007 Attorneys for Defendant 2 PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General s/ Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Acting 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) 305-7561 Facsimile: (202) 305-7643
Case 1:06-cv-00241-LJB
Document 10
Filed 02/28/2007
Page 3 of 3
Filed Electronically with the Consent of the Attorney for Defendant
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