Free Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00179-TCW

Document 37

Filed 10/17/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

SWANSON GROUP, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES,

Defendant.

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Case No. 05-179C (Judge Wheeler)

STATUS REPORT ON BEHALF OF PLAINTIFF Pursuant to the Court's Order filed September 12, 2007, a joint status report is due today in this action for the purpose of advising the Court as to the status of the parties' settlement discussions. Counsel of record for plaintiff in this action has made several attempts to contact counsel of record for defendant, both by leaving voicemail messages and via email. As of 4:50pm today, plaintiff's counsel received an email from counsel of record for the government stating only that she was in trial and that the government still had an interest in settlement of this case and other timber suspension cases in this Court, and that she would prefer filing another joint status report requesting a further stay of proceedings in this case to explore settlement. Under these circumstances, plaintiff prefers to file this status report on its on behalf.

On August 20, 2007, counsel of record for the government was provided with a letter from Richard W. Goeken of Saltman & Stevens, P.C. on behalf of plaintiff Swanson Group, Inc. ("Swanson") bringing certain apparent clerical and computational errors pertaining to the government's last substantive communication with counsel for Swanson regarding possible

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Case 1:05-cv-00179-TCW

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Filed 10/17/2007

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settlement of this action. By follow-up telephone calls and emails, counsel for Swanson have informed counsel for the government in this action that Swanson cannot respond further to the government regarding settlement without clarification of these apparent errors and some mutual agreement on their correction. We have informed counsel for the government that once this has been accomplished, Swanson will be in a position to respond with a further settlement proposal. As of the filing of this joint status report, counsel for Swanson have not received any further reply from the government.

Accordingly, Swanson proposes that the Court order the government to respond to Swanson's above-referenced request for technical clarifications on or before October 27, 2007, if the government has any further interest in discussing settlement of this case. Upon receipt of a substantive response from the government, Swanson will be able to respond with a further settlement proposal. Swanson further requests that the Court schedule a status conference during the week of November 19, 2007 for the purpose of informing the Court as to the status of the parties' settlement discussions and any realistic likelihood of settlement in this case.

Respectfully submitted,

s/Gary G. Stevens SALTMAN & STEVENS P.C. 1801 K Street, N.W. Suite M110 Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 452-2140 Counsel for Plaintiff

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OF COUNSEL: Richard W. Goeken SALTMAN & STEVENS, P.C. 1801 K Street, N.W. Suite M-110 Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 452-2140 Dated: October 17, 2007

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