Free Motion for Extension of Time to Complete Discovery - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:04-cv-00794-NBF

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Filed 03/08/2005

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

04-794C (Judge Firestone)

DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 6(b) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims, defendant, the United States, respectfully requests the Court to enlarge the discovery deadlines in this case by 60 days. The proposed schedule is set forth below. This is defendant's first motion for this purpose. Counsel for defendant has conferred with counsel for plaintiff, and is authorized to state that plaintiff does not oppose this motion. This motion is necessary for two reasons. First, the relief sought in this motion will allow the parties sufficient time to meet and conduct informal settlement discussions. The parties have scheduled March 15, 2005 for such a meeting. This motion also is necessary because counsel for defendant has been, and will be, occupied with the following activities in other cases before this Court: (1) document production, discovery responses and settlement proposals in Law

Case 1:04-cv-00794-NBF

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Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. v. United States, No. 04-145 (Fed. Cl.); (2) settlement negotiations and agreement in Metric Constructors, Inc. v. United States, No. 98-788 (Fed. Cl.); (3) depositions, document production and discovery responses in Columbia Manufacturing, Inc. v. United States, No. 021221 (Fed. Cl.); (4) answer and counterclaim in LaBarge, Inc. v. United States, No. 05-1 (Fed. Cl.); (5) document production and discovery responses in Gregg, et al. v. United States, No. 04-425; and (6) document production and discovery responses in Filosa, et al. v. United States, No. 04-710 (Fed. Cl.). In addition, counsel is scheduled to begin bid protest duty during the twoweek period from March 21 to April 1, 2005. During this time, counsel for defendant will be required to be available for bid protest proceedings involving requests for injunctive relief. Further, counsel for defendant has the following deadlines with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: (1) formal brief due April 1, 2005 in Gettler v. Nicholson, No. 05-7074; (2) oral argument scheduled for April 5, 2005 in Lewis v. Dept. of Defense, No. 04-3229; (3) oral argument scheduled for April 5, 2005 in Chambers v. United States, No. 04-5134; and (4) formal brief due April 10, 2005 in Jones v. Nicholson, No. 05-7082.

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Case 1:04-cv-00794-NBF

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The current discovery schedule is as follows:1 March 30, 2005 April 29, 2005 May 27, 2005 July 15, 2005 Close of Fact Discovery; Plaintiff's expert report(s) Government's expert report(s) Plaintiff's supplemental report(s) Close of all discovery; Government's rebuttal report(s) (if leave granted) To date, the parties have exchanged documents and discovery responses, including document production requests, interrogatories and requests for admission. The parties also have been preparing for depositions. However, the above-described activities and deadlines will prevent counsel for defendant from having sufficient time to complete the remaining discovery tasks in this case pursuant to the current discovery deadlines. Accordingly, defendant requests the Court to grant this unopposed motion to enlarge the discovery deadlines by 60 days and adopt the following proposed schedule: May 29, 2005 June 28, 2005 July 29, 2005 Close of Fact Discovery; Plaintiff's expert report(s) due. Government's expert report(s) due. Plaintiff's supplemental report(s) due.

The Court established this schedule pursuant to plaintiff's unopposed motion for an enlargement of the deadlines. -3-

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September 13, 2005

Close of all discovery; if leave granted, Government's rebuttal report(s) due. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director /s/Robert E. Kirschman, Jr. ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, JR. Assistant Director /s/Gregory T. Jaeger GREGORY T. JAEGER Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 353-7955

March 8, 2005

Attorneys for Defendant

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on March 8, 2005, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME" 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/Gregory T. Jaeger

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