Free Motion for Leave to File - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00912-LMB

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS AEC SERVICES, INC., Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 05-912C (Judge Baskir)

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Defendant, the United States, respectfully requests an enlargement of time of 35 days, through and including March 13, 2006, within which to file and to serve its response to the complaint. Our response is currently due on February 6, 2006. This is our fifth request for an enlargement of time for this purpose. Previously, the Court granted unopposed motions for enlargement of time of 24 days, 28 days, 28 days, and 28 days. We first notified plaintiff's counsel of our intent to request an enlargement of time on January 31, 2006, but have not yet received a response. Former counsel of record for the United States, Mr. Moran, was engaged in ongoing, productive settlement discussions with plaintiff's counsel. After our most recent motion for enlargement of time, Mr. Moran resigned from the Department of Justice. Current counsel of record was assigned to this case on January 25, 2006, and has been working to

Case 1:05-cv-00912-LMB

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familiarize herself with the case and independently evaluate the possibility of settlement. Current counsel for the defendant has contacted counsel for the plaintiff to resume settlement discussions. The parties have expressed optimism that at least a portion of plaintiff's complaint can be resolved without the Court's involvement and further litigation, and are now prepared to discuss concrete settlement terms. In light of these efforts, the United States respectfully requests that our time for responding to the complaint be enlarged. In addition, counsel for the defendant and counsel for the agency will be unavailable for settlement discussions during several weeks of the requested period of enlargement. Counsel for the defendant will be away from her office on official travel to attend Government training in Columbia, South Carolina between February 6 and February 16, 2006. Counsel for the agency will be unavailable the following week. For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully request that this motion be granted and the time for responding to the complaint be enlarged until March 13, 2006. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN -2-

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Director s/James M. Kinsella JAMES M. KINSELLA Deputy Director Of counsel: MARK LaFEIR General Services Administration s/Allison Kidd-Miller ALLISON KIDD-MILLER Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 307-1011 Fax: (202) 307-0972 Attorneys for Defendant

February 3, 2006

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify under penalty of perjury that on this 3rd day of February, 2006, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME " 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 Allison Kidd-Miller