Free Motion to Amend Schedule - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00170-LAS

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Filed 06/29/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS SWANSON GROUP, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Case No. 05-170C consolidated with 05-171C (Senior Judge Loren A. Smith)

PLAINTIFF'S UNOPPOSED MOTION TO AMEND THE COURT'S SCHEDULING ORDER OF APRIL 20, 2006 Plaintiff respectfully moves to amend the Court's scheduling order of April 20, 2006 as indicated below. Defendant, through its counsel, states that defendant does not oppose this motion.

Plaintiff's proposed new pre-trial schedule is as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The parties shall complete discovery, including depositions not otherwise addressed in this Order, on the issue of liability on or before October 6, 2006. The parties shall designate experts and exchange expert reports on the issue of liability on or before November 6, 2006. The parties shall designate rebuttal experts and exchange rebuttal reports on the issue of liability on or before December 4, 2006. The parties shall depose all experts on or before December 18, 2006. The parties shall file dispositive motions, if any, on or before December 29, 2006. The parties shall contact the Court within ten (10) days of the resolution of all dispositive motions to schedule a pre-trial conference.

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Under the foregoing proposed schedule all pre-trial discovery, including expert discovery and the filing of dispositive motions, would conclude approximately 25 days later than the schedule set forth in the Court's order of April 20, 2006. These deadlines would apply only to Case No. 05-170C, Swanson's Benchmark timber sale claim. Case No. 05-171C, Swanson's Whitecap timber sale claim, is currently being briefed in connection with Swanson's pending motion for summary judgment on liability. A hearing on that motion and on defendant's "motion to dismiss plaintiff's motion for summary judgment" is scheduled for August 2, 2006. The instant motion does not request any change in the briefing or hearing dates for these motions.

Plaintiff requests the foregoing changes in the Court's scheduling order filed April 20, 2006 in order to provide the parties with approximately 25 additional days within which to complete discovery and the other pre-trial matters in Case No. 05-170C. Plaintiff has served interrogatories and document requests upon defendant, and defendant has responded. Plaintiff has determined that several of defendant's responses appear to be inadequate, but rather than involve the Court at this juncture or file a motion to compel, plaintiff believes that some additional time for plaintiff to attempt to negotiate a compromise with defendant would be appropriate and a more efficient use of resources. In addition, defendant has recently served on plaintiff interrogatories and document requests. These discovery requests appear to require a fairly extensive review by plaintiff of its files. Plaintiff has requested and defendant has agreed to an extension of time to and including August 7, 2006 within which plaintiff will serve its responses on defendant. However, the current date for completion of all discovery in this case

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Case 1:05-cv-00170-LAS

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on the issue of liability is August 11, 2006, and both parties agree that an extension of this date will be needed in order to allow a reasonable time for both parties to take depositions.

For each of the foregoing reasons, plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court amend its order of April 20, 2006 by adopting the foregoing new schedule for Case No. 05-170C.

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 Dated: June 29, 2006

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