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

Case 1:05-cv-01158-TCW

Document 15

Filed 10/02/2006

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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. The parties are pleased to report that (i) they have finalized the terms of their proposed settlement agreement; (ii) the Department of Agriculture has submitted its formal letter recommending the settlement; and (iii) the formal approval process within the Department of Justice is currently underway. The agreement encompasses over 250 Section 515 prepayment cases pending before the Court involving approximately 800 properties ­ including this case. The principal terms of this agreement were reached during the ADR conferences held before Judge Marian Blank Horn on May 8 through 9, 2006, and further status conferences were held on June 7, 2006, June 28, 2006, and August 1, 2006. The plaintiffs then formally submitted the agreement to defendant as an offer of settlement on August 23, 2006, after which status conference with Judge Horn were held on August 25, 2006 and September 27, 2006. A further File No. 05-1158 (Judge Thomas C. Wheeler)

Case 1:05-cv-01158-TCW

Document 15

Filed 10/02/2006

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status conference is scheduled for October 19, 2006, at which time the parties will inform Judge Horn as to the status of the approval process within the Department of Justice. 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 Mark D. Savin, Of Counsel FAEGRE & BENSON LLP 2200 Wells Fargo Center Minneapolis, MN 55402 Telephone: (612) 766-7000 Facsimile: (612) 766-1600 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Dated: October 2, 2006 Filed Electronically with the consent of the Attorney for Defendant 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 Attorneys for Defendant

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