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

Case 1:05-cv-00370-CFL

Document 56

Filed 07/24/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ALI JAZMIN RODRIGUEZ, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Electronic Filing No. 05-370C (Judge Lettow)

JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's April 21, 2008 order, plaintiff Ali Jazmin Rodriguez and defendant United States, through their respective counsel, respectfully submit the following joint status report. (1) (2) The parties have completed discovery in this case. The final order in a case similar to this one, Rivera-Agredano v.

United States, Fed. Cl. No. 05-608C, was entered on June 24, 2008, and judgment was entered on June 27, 2008. The Court in Rivera-Agredano held that defendant failed to remove all illegal contraband secreted within the 1987 Nissan Pathfinder that was purchased at a Government auction by the plaintiff, Mr. Rivera-Agredano, and thereby breached an implied-in-fact warranty between the parties that the vehicle would be sold free of illegal contraband. The Court further held that all of the plaintiff's alleged economic damages -- including lost wages, criminal defense attorney fees, medical and psychiatric costs (both past and future), and miscellaneous expenses incurred by the plaintiff's family when visiting him while in jail -- were foreseeable, causally linked to the breach, and proven with sufficient certainty to justify an aggregate award of $550,854 in economic damages.

Case 1:05-cv-00370-CFL

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(3)

The Court in Rivera-Agredano did not award the plaintiff any

emotional distress damages, stating: The court is awarding plaintiff damages intended to address, as supported by testimony and the parties' stipulations, the costs of remedying the physical, psychiatric, and financial injuries plaintiff suffered as a proximate result of defendant's breach. The court does not find that an additional award has been supported by plaintiff. (4) On July 2, 2008, the plaintiff in Rivera-Agredano filed a motion for

reconsideration with respect to the Court's decision upon the emotional distress damages issue. The defendant filed its response and opposition to the plaintiff's motion on July 18, 2008. The motion for reconsideration remains pending as of the filing of this joint status report. (5) The parties in this case do not agree upon the proper course for further

proceedings in this case. (6) Plaintiff requests that this case be calendared for trial within the next

four to six months. (7) Defendant requests a briefing schedule for a motion for partial

summary judgment upon the narrow issue of plaintiff's legal entitlement to emotional distress damages in this contract action. (8) Should the Court conclude that this case should be set for trial, the

defendant requests a trial date no earlier than March 2009. Counsel for the defendant's personal and work calendars prevent him from being prepared for trial prior to March 2009. Counsel for the defendant will be married on September 20, -2-

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2008, and he will return to the office on October 3, 2008. Between now and then, his calendar is full (although he can prepare the previously mentioned motion for summary judgment). After he returns to the office, he will be assigned to bid protest duty, which will likely result in him litigating a procurement protest upon a fairly expedient schedule. Additionally, counsel for the defendant anticipates spending a substantial amount of time preparing for the January 2009 trial in Bannum, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cl. No. 01-639, a case assigned to this Court. Following trial in Bannum, counsel for the defendant will require some time to prepare the necessary pretrial filings and prepare his witnesses for trial in this case. Respectfully submitted, GREGORY G. KATSAS Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director s/ Patricia M. McCarthy PATRICIA M. McCARTHY Assistant Director s/ Teresa Trucchi TERESA TRUCCHI Suppa, Trucchi & Henein, LLP 3055 India Street San Diego, CA 92103 Tel. (619) 297-7330 Fax. (619) 297-9658 s/ Devin A. Wolak DEVIN A. WOLAK Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20530 Tel. (202) 616-0170 Fax. (202) 305-7644 Attorneys for Defendant

Attorney for Plaintiff July 24, 2008

-3-

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on July 24, 2008, 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.

s/ Devin A. Wolak