Free Motion to Amend Schedule - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00708-CFL

Document 20

Filed 06/30/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS SCOTT TIMBER CO., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Case No. 05-708C (Judge Lettow)

Defendant.

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION TO AMEND COURTS'S SCHEDULING ORDER OF APRIL 12, 2006 Pursuant to Rule 6(b)(1) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC"), defendant respectfully requests a 25-day enlargement of time, to and including September 29, 2006, within which to conduct fact discovery on liability in this case, and to amend other deadlines set out in the Court's April 12, 2006 scheduling order. Pursuant to the scheduling order, fact discovery on liability is scheduled to end on September 5, 2006. This is defendant's first request for an enlargement of time for this purpose. Plaintiff, through its counsel, indicates that it does not oppose this motion. Counsel for the plaintiff served interrogatories and requests for production of documents on defendant on June 7, 2006. Undersigned counsel for the defendant has contacted the Forest Service personnel who are needed to assemble the necessary documents and who have the knowledge necessary to provide answers to the interrogatories. They indicated to her that, given their current workload, including pending discovery requests in other cases, they will not be able to provide complete answers before August 24, 2006. Plaintiff has stipulated to allow defendant until August 24, 2006, to respond to the discovery. The current deadline for completion of fact discovery on liability is September 5, 2006.

Case 1:05-cv-00708-CFL

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Filed 06/30/2006

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Defendant's request to extend this deadline to September 29, 2006, is made to allow sufficient time after August 24, 2006, to complete document discovery and to conduct depositions.1 To allow enough time to complete discovery regarding expert witnesses, defendant also requests that the deadline for exchanging expert reports be extended to October 20, 2006, the deadline for exchanging rebuttal expert reports be extended to November 6, 2006, and that depositions of expert witnesses be extended to November 21, 2006. The parties anticipate that they will be able to meet the current December 1, 2006 deadline to file a Joint Status Report even if the request to extend the discovery deadlines is granted. PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Kathryn A. Bleecker KATHRYN A. BLEECKER Assistant Director

Defendant is mindful that the Court has previously ordered that the depositions taken and documents obtained by the parties in Blue Lake Forest Products, Inc. et al. v. United States, 01-570C, 01-627C, and 04-501C may be used as if that discovery had been completed in the instant case. Defendant does not seek to amend that portion of the April 12, 2006, scheduling order. Nevertheless, defendant expects that the parties will need to take additional depositions, and therefore requests this brief extension of the deadline for fact discovery on liability. 2

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Case 1:05-cv-00708-CFL

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OF COUNSEL: James Alexander Associate Regional Attorney USDA-OGC, Pacific Region 1734 Federal Building 1220 S.W. Third Avenue Portland, Oregon 97204-2825

s/ Joan M. Stentiford JOAN M. STENTIFORD Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 (202) 616-0341

Attorneys for Defendant Dated: June 30, 2006

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Case 1:05-cv-00708-CFL

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on this day of June, a copy of the foregoing

"DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION TO AMEND THE COURT'S SCHEDULING ORDER FILED APRIL 12, 2006" 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/ Joan M. Stentiford

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