Free Scheduling Order - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-01043-VJW

Document 83

Filed 10/19/2007

Page 1 of 2

In the United States Court of Federal Claims
NOT FOR PUBLICATION No. 05-1043C (Filed October 19, 2007) *********************** * JORGE A. DELPIN APONTE, * * Plaintiffs, * * v. * * THE UNITED STATES, * * Defendant. * * *********************** ORDER The Court has reviewed the status report submitted by defendant on October 12, 2007, in which defendant represents that it will produce for plaintiffs witnesses such that any deposition conducted pursuant to Rule 30(b)(6) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC") would be completed on or before November 16, 2007. The Joint Status Report (JSR) of June 14, 2007 had indicated that the RCFC 30(b)(6) deposition would be completed on or before August 22, 2007, but the parties apparently agreed to schedule this deposition for November 1, 2007, before plaintiff requested that it be rescheduled. Defendant further proposes that on or before November 30, 2007, the parties will file a JSR indicating whether additional discovery is necessary prior to further summary judgment proceedings. In this JSR, if the parties agree no further discovery is necessary, they would include a proposed schedule for further summary judgment proceedings. If the parties cannot agree whether further discovery is necessary, the party seeking additional discovery would file a motion within 14 days of the filing of the JSR, setting forth the reason(s) that further discovery is necessary and proposing a schedule for its completion. (Presumably, if the parties agree that further discovery is necessary, a proposed discovery schedule would instead be included in this JSR.) The Court hopes that the failure of plaintiffs' counsel to respond to government counsel's draft JSR does not reflect an indifferent attitude toward this litigation, and is due to a more benign cause such as logistical or communications problems. Although it is admittedly operating without the benefit of plaintiffs' counsel's perspective on the matter, the Court is presently aware of no reason why plaintiffs' counsel could not conduct the RCFC 30(b)(6) deposition on or before November 16, 2007. And the Court finds that the government's

Case 1:05-cv-01043-VJW

Document 83

Filed 10/19/2007

Page 2 of 2

proposed JSR represents a fair and efficient time line to move the proceedings along. Accordingly, plaintiff shall conduct its Rule 30(b)(6) deposition on or before November 16, 2007, and shall coordinate with defendant to file a JSR on or before November 30, 2007. This JSR shall contain either a proposed schedule for summary judgment proceedings, a proposed schedule for additional discovery, or an explanation of the parties' differences concerning the need for additional discovery. If the JSR contains the latter explanation, the party seeking additional discovery shall file a motion within fourteen days of the filing of the JSR explaining why the additional discovery is believed to be necessary. The parties are reminded that discovery should be limited to the issues described in the Court's June 12, 2007 Order. IT IS SO ORDERED.

s/ Victor J. Wolski VICTOR J. WOLSKI Judge

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