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

Case 1:06-cv-00113-MBH

Document 33

Filed 05/07/2007

Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS OAK ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 06-113C (Judge Horn)

JOINT STATUS REPORT Defendant, the United States, respectfully submits this status report upon behalf of the parties. The Government previously filed a motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff has conducted limited discovery, which

plaintiff has indicated is necessary to respond to the Government's motion. This discovery included depositions of

certain current and former Government employees in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Newport, Rhode Island, as well as the production of documents. The deadline for completing that limited discovery

was May 1, 2007. Should the Court grant additional time for discovery as requested below, the remaining discovery is as follows: Plaintiff intends to conduct one more deposition, which the parties have tentatively scheduled for May 10, 2007. Originally,

that deposition was scheduled for April 19, 2007, but the deposition was required to be postponed, at the Government's request, to provide Government counsel with the opportunity to prepare and circulate the paperwork necessary to represent the

Case 1:06-cv-00113-MBH

Document 33

Filed 05/07/2007

Page 2 of 4

witness, who is a former Government employee.

Further, because

the deposition will be conducted telephonically, the parties must provide the necessary deposition exhibits to plaintiff in advance of the deposition. Finally, the Government recently provided

plaintiff with additional documents that plaintiff had requested. To enable the plaintiff to complete the remaining limited fact discovery that it has indicated is necessary to properly respond to the Government's motion, plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court grant it an additional 17 days, through and including May 18, 2007, to complete the limited discovery. The deadline to complete limited discovery previously has been enlarged three times for a total of 106 days. The Government

consents to the proposed enlargement of time until May 18, 2007. Regarding settlement prospects in this matter, the parties believe they may be in a better position to address the issue following the completion of limited discovery, assuming that an enlargement of the current discovery deadline is granted. Similarly, with respect to the remaining issues that the Court has directed the parties to address (i.e., identification of any material facts in dispute, proposals regarding how to resolve the claims in the case, and a proposed schedule), the parties respectfully request that the Court permit the parties to address those issues in another status report, which the parties respectfully propose to submit on or before May 23, 2007.

2

Case 1:06-cv-00113-MBH

Document 33

Filed 05/07/2007

Page 3 of 4

Plaintiff's counsel has reviewed this status report, agrees with its contents, and consents to it being filed upon behalf of the parties. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director s/Steven J. Gillingham STEVEN J. GILLINGHAM Assistant Director

s/Richard P. Schroeder RICHARD P. SCHROEDER Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit Eighth Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 305-7562 Attorneys for Defendant May 7, 2007

3

Case 1:06-cv-00113-MBH

Document 33

Filed 05/07/2007

Page 4 of 4

CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that on this 7th day of May 2007, a copy of the foregoing "JOINT STATUS REPORT" 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/Richard P. Schroeder

4