Free Motion for Extension of Time to Complete Discovery - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00840-MMS

Document 79

Filed 01/25/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) ) UNITED STATES ) ) Defendant, ) ) and ) ) WEEKS MARINE, INC., ) ) Intervenor-Defendant.) FISHERMAN'S HARVEST, INC., et al.,

No. 05-0840 C and No. 05-1044C (CONSOLIDATED) (Chief Judge Damich)

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF THE DISCOVERY PERIOD Pursuant to Rule 6 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims, defendant, the United States respectfully requests that the Court enlarge all discovery deadlines in this case. The current deadline for fact discovery is January 25, 2008, and expert discovery closes on March 31, 2008. This is our third request for enlargement for this purpose. The Court previously granted two enlargements totaling approximately 180 days. On January 25, 2008, Mr. Shannon Nash, and Mr. Mark Faggard, counsel for plaintiffs, indicated that plaintiffs consent to this motion. On January 24, 2008, Mr. Michael Bowdoin, counsel for defendantintervenor, Weeks Marine, Inc., indicated that his client would not oppose this motion. Defendant respectfully requests that all discovery deadlines be extended by 45 days, to permit the completion of fact discovery. The requested enlargement is necessary due to the large number of depositions conducted to date, and continuing difficulty in coordinating the schedules of five attorneys of record with the schedules of the witnesses. To date, the parties have

Case 1:05-cv-00840-MMS

Document 79

Filed 01/25/2008

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exchanged written discovery and have produced over 43,000 pages of documents. Plaintiffs and Weeks Marine have recently supplemented their document productions. Moreover, plaintiffs recently issued a subpoena for documents to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The parties continue to be diligent in conducting depositions. Thus far, 21 fact witnesses have been deposed. Five depositions were conducted within the last sixty days. All parties were required to travel to Edwards, Mississippi, on January 22, 2008, for the deposition of Mr. Allen Teeter. Due to flight cancellations and flight delays on January 21, and January 22, 2008, the undersigned attorney of record was unable to reach the deposition location at the scheduled deposition time, and the parties were unable to complete the deposition of Mr. Teeter on that date. All parties will be required to return to Mississippi to complete Mr. Teeter's deposition. All parties also traveled to Centerville, Texas, on January 23, 2008, for the deposition of Mr. Randy Thomas. Additionally, based upon recent deposition testimony, the parties have identified at least one additional fact witnesses to be deposed. Moreover, one of the remaining fact witnesses to be deposed, Mr. Martin Arhelger, resides outside the Houston area, and his deposition will require travel by all counsel. For the reasons stated above, defendant respectfully requests that this Court enlarge all discovery deadlines pursuant to the above schedule. Respectfully submitted, JEFFREY S. BUCHOLTZ Acting Assistant Attorney General

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Case 1:05-cv-00840-MMS

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JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

s/ Patricia M. McCarthy PATRICIA M. McCARTHY Assistant Director

s/ David D'Alessandris DAVID D'ALESSANDRIS U.S. Department of Justice Civil Div. Commercial Litigation Br. 1100 L. Street, NW 8th Floor Washington, DC 20530 January 25, 2008 Attorneys for the United States

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Case 1:05-cv-00840-MMS

Document 79

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on January 25, 2008, a copy of the forgoing "DEFENDANT'S MOTION UNOPPOSED FOR ENLARGEMENT OF THE DISCOVERY PERIOD" 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/ David D'Alessandris