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

Case 1:05-cv-01158-TCW

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Filed 02/01/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ______________________________________________________________________________ LLOYD H. WENTWORTH, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES Defendant. ______________________________________________________________________________ JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's Order of January 10, 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, review of the proposed settlement by the Department of Justice is still in progress. 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 19, 2006, November 16, 2006, December 8, 2006, and January 9, 2007. Pursuant to a recent order issued in connection with the ADR proceedings, defendant will be filing with Judge Horn File No. 05-1158 (Judge Thomas C. Wheeler)

Case 1:05-cv-01158-TCW

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on February 1, 2007, a status report detailing the status of the approval process within the Department of Justice and specifying the date by which the government is expected to complete that process. Thereafter, a status conference with Judge Horn will be held on February 13, 2007, at which time the parties will further update Judge Horn as to 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 1, 2007 Attorneys for Defendant Filed Electronically with the consent of the Attorney for Defendant 2 PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General s/ David M. Cohen DAVID M. COHEN 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 1:05-cv-01158-TCW

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Filed 02/01/2007

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