Free Motion for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00490-TCW

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS SSA MARINE, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 05-490C (Chief Judge Damich)

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION Defendant respectfully requests the Court to extend by 30 days, to and including December 27, 2006, the deadline for filing its reply brief with regard to its motion for partial summary judgment. 27, 2006. Defendant's reply brief is presently due on November This is defendant's first request for an extension of Defendant contacted plaintiff's counsel to

this deadline.

determine whether plaintiff opposes this motion, but plaintiff's counsel was not able to provide a definitive position with regard to this issue. The time requested is necessary because the Government's present attorney of record has accepted an offer of employment with the Department of State, and his last day in the office with the Department of Justice will be November 22, 2006. This case

has been reassigned to Brian Smith, who was out of the office the week of October 30, 2006, and has been busy with other matters since his return to the office on November 6, 2006. Mr. Smith

will file his notice of appearance in the near future.

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The Government's present attorney of record will be unable to prepare the Government's reply brief before he departs from the Department of Justice for several reasons. Since receipt of

plaintiff's brief on November 9, 2006, the Government's present attorney of record has been required to devote substantial amounts of time to other matters pending before this Court, including: preparing a joint stipulation of dismissal in Nicon,

Inc. v. United States, No. 99-982C (Fed. Cl.), which was due on November 14, 2006; preparing proposed redactions of a 90-page bid protest decision in Textron, Inc. v. United States, No. 06-517C (Fed. Cl. Nov. 8, 2006), which were filed on November 15, 2006; reviewing the redactions proposed by the two protesters and the intervenor in Textron; advising the client agency in Textron with regard to the likelihood that the protesters would appeal and the actions the agency should take to prepare for that possibility; and negotiating with the pro se plaintiff in Lechliter v. United States, No. 04-1729C (Fed. Cl.). As a result of these extensive

negotiations, plaintiff has made a settlement offer that the Government's present attorney of record will recommend his superiors accept. If accepted, plaintiff's offer will resolve

his Court of Federal Claims' suit and a suit that is pending in the district court, Lechliter v. Department of the Army, No. 04814 (D. Del.). The Government's present attorney of record hopes

to complete his settlement memorandum by close of business on

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Case 1:05-cv-00490-TCW

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November 17, 2006. In addition, there are numerous time-consuming tasks that the Government's present attorney of record must complete before he departs for the Department of State. These include:

preparing case re-assignment memoranda for the cases that will be reassigned because of his departure; ensuring all of the official files and papers in his possession are properly accounted for and entered into the Department of Justice's records management system; and accounting for all Department of Justice property and equipment. Finally, plaintiff raised several new issues, not previously shared with the Government, in its opposition to the Government's motion for partial summary judgment. The Government's attorneys

will need to research and analyze these issues in order to prepare the Government's reply brief. For the foregoing reasons, defendant respectfully requests that the Court grant this motion for an enlargement of time. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Bryant G. Snee By Steven J. Gillingham BRYANT G. SNEE Assistant Director -3-

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s/ Thomas D. Dinackus THOMAS D. DINACKUS Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20530 Tele: (202) 307-6289 Fax: (202) 514-7969 Attorneys for Defendant OF COUNSEL: JOHN B. ALUMBAUGH PETER E. YOUNG U.S. Agency for International Development November 16, 2006

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NOTICE OF FILING I hereby certify that on November 16, 2006, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION" 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. system. Parties may access this filing through the Court's

s/ Thomas D. Dinackus