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

Case 1:05-cv-00179-TCW

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Filed 07/27/2007

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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)

JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's Order filed June 11, 2007, the parties submit the following joint status report.

On June 11, 2007, the Court granted the parties' request that discovery in this case be stayed until July 20, 2007 while the parties engaged in settlement discussions. On June 8, 2007, plaintiff submitted a counter settlement proposal to defendant's settlement proposal dated May 22, 2007. On July 17, 2007, plaintiff received another settlement proposal from defendant. Plaintiff is now reviewing defendant's latest proposal and anticipates submitting a response to defendant next week.

The settlement process in this case has become somewhat more complicated because the parties have combined their efforts to settle this case with their efforts to settle two other Swanson Group timber sale suspension cases pending in this Court before Judge Smith (Swanson Group, Inc. v. United States, COFC Nos. 170C and 171C). Both Swanson and the

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United States would like to reach agreement on a global settlement including all three Swanson cases. The parties continue to believe that settlement of this case and the two cases before Judge Smith is possible. However, in order to accomplish this objective, the parties request more time to do so. Accordingly, the parties respectfully request that the Court amend its Order of June 11, 2007 to provide that discovery in this case should continue to be stayed to and including August 31, 2007 and that the parties file a joint status report on or before September 7, 2007 informing the Court of the progress of settlement discussions. If the parties report to the Court that settlement is unlikely, the parties request a telephonic status conference at 10:00am on September 17, 2007 for the purpose of determining an appropriate schedule for proceeding 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

PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director s/Kathryn A. Bleecker KATHRYN A. BLEECKER Assistant Director

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OF COUNSEL: MARCUS WAH Senior Attorney USDA-OGC, Pacific Region

s/Joan M. Stentiford JOAN M. STENTIFORD Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit, 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Phone: (202) 616-0341 Fax: (202) 514-8624 Counsel for Defendant

Dated: July 27, 2007

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