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

Case 1:05-cv-00374-EGB

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Filed 06/29/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ____________________________________ LL&E MINING, INC., ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) THE UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________________)

No. 05-374C Judge Bruggink

JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's Order of December 1, 2005, LL&E Mining, Inc. ("LL&E") submits this Joint Status Report on behalf of itself and the United States. Counsel for the United States has reviewed this document and concurs in its being submitted. In its December 1 Order, the Court granted LL&E's unopposed motion for a stay of this matter pending resolution of motions for summary judgment that had been or were to be submitted in numerous other, analogous cases. The Court directed the parties to submit Joint Status Reports every 120 days, commencing on March 1, 2006, reporting on the status of those cases as well as on settlement discussions between the parties in this case. This is the second such report. This matter is one of over 25 similar cases involving challenges to the method by which the United States calculated periodic price adjustments regarding the sale of jet fuel to the Federal Government. With cases dating back to 1995, the commencement of this case in March of 2005 makes it one of the newest cases to be filed. Upon entering this matter as substituted counsel for LL&E, in mid-September 2005, LL&E's counsel initiated discussions with counsel for the United States to explore the possibility of settlement. The United States expressed a willingness to undertake such discussions. Since

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Case 1:05-cv-00374-EGB

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Filed 06/29/2006

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December, counsel for the parties have discussed settlement in general terms while monitoring the progress of other cases that are more advanced than this matter that might afford guidance as to how this matter might proceed. Since March, however, Burlington Resources, Inc. ("Burlington"), the company that owns LL&E, was acquired by ConocoPhillips, Inc ("Conoco"), which has a similar matter pending before another member of the Court. ConocoPhillips. Inc. v. United States, No. 1:02cv-01367 (Judge Wiese). As a result of this acquisition, Burlington requested that undersigned counsel temporarily suspend his efforts pending a decision by Conoco how it desired to proceed with this matter. Earlier this week, undersigned counsel was instructed by Conoco to transfer responsibility for this matter to J. Keith Burt, of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, who also serves as counsel for Conoco. Undersigned counsel is in the process of effecting that change. He understands that Mr. Burt will be submitting an unopposed motion regarding the transfer in the near future. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Anthony H. Anikeeff Anthony H. Anikeeff Bracewell & Giuliani LLP 2000 K Street, NW, Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20006-1782 Tel: (202) 828-5800 Fax: (202) 857-2142 Attorney for LL&E Mining, Inc.

Dated: June 29, 2006

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Case 1:05-cv-00374-EGB

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Filed 06/29/2006

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on June 29, 2006, a copy of the foregoing 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.

Steven J. Gillingham, Esq. Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division United States Department of Justice 1100 l Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530

___/s/ Anthony H. Anikeeff__

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