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

Case 1:05-cv-00776-MMS

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Filed 07/06/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS AG-INNOVATIONS, INC., LARRY FAILLACE, LINDA FAILLACE, and HOUGHTON FREEMAN, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 05-776C (Judge Sweeney)

JOINT STATUS REPORT The parties respectfully submit their response to the Court's order dated June 20, 2007. The parties have continued to attempt to resolve their disputes concerning plaintiffs' request to depose one or more designees pursuant to a Rule 30(b)(6) Notice of Deposition. The parties have been able to stipulate to designating certain fact testimony concerning seven of the topics that plaintiffs identified in their Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice. On June 27, 2007, plaintiffs deposed one witness concerning one of the additional topics, and defendant has identified a witness to be deposed concerning one additional topic. The parties have exchanged several detailed letters concerning the scope of the remaining topics. Following the May 29, 2007, telephone conference with the Court, plaintiffs' counsel submitted a letter dated June 1, 2007, narrowing the remaining topics identified in plaintiffs' Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice. The Government responded by letter on June 19, 2007, and with a second corrected response to plaintiffs' Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice. Plaintiffs' counsel submitted a response to the Government on June 28, 2007, along with a revised Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice that further revised the unresolved deposition topics. Counsel for the Government was out of town in connection with another case on June 28 and 29, 2007, and has not yet had an opportunity to review and discuss in detail plaintiffs' June

Case 1:05-cv-00776-MMS

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28, 2007 proposal with counsel for the United States Department of Agriculture. Defendant's counsel expects that she will require an additional week to complete that review process to decide what the Government's response will be. If the parties are unable to reach agreement on all of the remaining Rule 30(b)(6) deposition topics, defendant anticipates that it will file a motion for protective order on or before July 31, 2007. Should the Government file a motion for protective order on July 31, 2007, plaintiffs anticipate that they will file their response on or before August 16, 2007.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Jonathan L. Abram by Kevin S. Willen JONATHAN L. ABRAM Hogan & Hartson, L.L.P. 555 Thirteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004 Tele: (202) 637-5681 Facsimile: (202) 637-5910 OF COUNSEL: RAYMOND S. CALAMARO KEVIN S. WILLEN Hogan & Hartson, L.L.P. 555 Thirteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004 Tele: (202) 637-5600 Facsimile: (202) 637-5910 Attorneys for Plaintiffs

PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General

/s/ Jeanne E. Davidson by Bryant G. Snee JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director /s/ Sheryl L. Floyd SHERYL L. FLOYD Senior Trial Counsel ROBERT CHANDLER Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 307-0282 Facsimile: (202) 514-8624

Dated: July 6, 2007

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OF COUNSEL: DARLENE BOLINGER United States Department of Agriculture Office of General Counsel 1400 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20250 Attorneys for Defendant Dated: July 6, 2007

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that on this 6th day of JULY, 2007, a copy of this "JOINT STATUS REPORT" 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/ Sheryl L. Floyd