Free Order - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:06-cv-00167-TCW

Document 15

Filed 11/01/2006

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In the United States Court of Federal Claims
Case No. 06-167L (Filed: November 1, 2006) ***************************************************** OTAY MESA PROPERTY L.P., et al., * Plaintiffs, * * v. * * THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, * Defendant. * * ***************************************************** ORDER The Court held a telephonic preliminary status conference in the above-captioned case on October 31, 2006. This Order confirms the matters decided at that conference. The Complaint in this Action lists three separate Plaintiffs, all of which are landowners of property located in eastern San Diego, CA, near the border of Mexico. They file suit under the Fifth Amendment to recover just compensation for the physical taking of their land. The Court and the parties discussed the necessity of giving each Plaintiff a separate case number. The Court hereby orders the following: 1. The Clerk is ordered to sever the claims of the following plaintiffs from that of Otay Mesa Property, L.P.: Rancho Vista Del Mar and Otay International, Inc. The Clerk shall treat the claims of each of these plaintiffs as separate actions and shall assign separate docket numbers to each of those cases.
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2.

Case 1:06-cv-00167-TCW

Document 15

Filed 11/01/2006

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3.

Pursuant to RCFC 42(a), these newly created cases shall be consolidated for all purposes under the lead case, Otay Mesa Property, L.P., et al. v. United States, 06-167L, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, and all future filings in this matter shall be filed under the consolidated caption, Otay Mesa Property, L.P., et al. v. United States, unless otherwise ordered by this Court. Documents shall be filed using only the first case number 06-167L (Consolidated). Note that, "consolidation under Rule 42(a) is simply a procedural device" and "does not merge [multiple] cases into a single claim, nor does it change or expand the parties' rights." S. Cal. Fed. Sav. and Loan Assoc. v. United States, 51 Fed. Cl. 676, 678 (2002).

4.

This order does not require the parties to file or refile any additional documents in the newly created cases, the dockets and records of which shall be deemed to include any prior filings in this action. The filing of a separate Complaint for each of the individual plaintiffs is not required. The court hereby waives any additional filing fees that would otherwise be due pursuant to RCFC 77.1(c).

5.

The parties are currently scheduled to engage in discovery until February 9, 2007, and do not anticipate the severing and consolidation of these cases to affect their discovery schedule. As such, the parties are hereby ordered to file a Joint Status Report updating the Court on the status of discovery and proposing further proceedings no later than February 19, 2007. This Joint Status Report should inform the Court what dispositive motions the parties intend to file and propose a briefing schedule for such motions.

IT IS SO ORDERED. /s/ Lawrence M. Baskir LAWRENCE M. BASKIR Judge
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