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

Case 1:02-cv-00024-FMA

Document 126

Filed 02/12/2008

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UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ____________________________________ PUEBLO OF LAGUNA, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________________)

No. 02-24L Judge Francis M. Allegra

JOINT STATUS REPORT Plaintiff, the Pueblo of Laguna, and Defendant, the United States, (the "parties"), respectfully submit this Joint Status Report to the Court regarding the parties' progress on document production and indexation issues since their last joint status report filed on November 13, 2007. I. DOCUMENT PRODUCTION AND INDEXATION PLAN STATUS Since the last status report, counsel for the parties with the concurrence of ADR Judge Bruggink have continued to concentrate their efforts on document production, indexation issues, and ADR in Jicarilla v. United States, No. 2-25L, and now more recently in Navajo Nation v. United States, No. 6-945L, as well. The parties are pleased with their efforts to work collectively and diligently to address document production and indexation issues in Jicarilla. As previously reported to the Court, the parties are optimistic that they will be able to utilize the lessons learned in Jicarilla to resolve document production and indexation issues that may arise in this case. Plaintiff continues developing a plan for the retrieval of documents from various Pueblo repositories and has begun the process of conducting a preliminary analysis of the Pueblo's repositories that may contain records relevant to the case. As such, Plaintiff continues to engage in preliminary discussions with Pueblo officials about the collection and coding of Laguna documents

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and will remain in communication with Defendant as the discussions progress. As the parties' experts continue to focus more on the evaluation of records and analysis of the issues in the Jicarilla and Navajo ADR, the parties remain optimistic that this will allow the parties to direct their efforts to addressing document production and indexation in this case. II. DISCOVERY SHARING By letter of November 30, 2007, Plaintiff here and the Plaintiffs in Jicarilla Apache Nation v. United States, No. 02-25, and Navajo Nation v. United States, No. 06-945, proposed to modify the materially identical CAPOs entered in each of these indirectly related cases to allow all three Plaintiffs to share discovery materials produced by Defendant in any one of these cases, to avoid duplicative discovery and promote judicial economy. The parties subsequently discussed this proposal during an ADR Status Conference with Senior Judge Bruggink on December 5, 2007. By letter of December 21, 2007, Plaintiff provided to Defendant additional legal support for its proposal. The parties discussed these matters further during a conference call on January 9, 2008, and during an ADR Status Conference on January 18, 2008. If the parties cannot resolve this issue on their own, they intend to seek the assistance of Senior Judge Bruggink during an ADR Status Conference scheduled for February 22, 2008. Thereafter, Plaintiffs in all three of these cases will file a consolidated motion with the Court in all three cases to modify the respective CAPOs to allow for discovery sharing among the Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs remain hopeful that such a motion can be filed with the concurrence of Defendant. III. ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

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The parties are pleased with the significant progress that has been made in the Jicarilla ADR proceedings. The parties have agreed with Judge Bruggink to address during status conferences, as practical, three cases all now in ADR (Jicarilla, Laguna, and Navajo), including matters common to all three cases, such as regarding discovery sharing. The parties share a similar commitment to collectively and diligently resolve any issues that may arise in ADR in this case. The parties are optimistic that they will be able to apply what they have learned in the Jicarilla and Navajo ADR proceedings to facilitate the resolution of issues in the subsequent ADR proceedings in this case. The parties shall report further to the Court on these matters of indexation and production of documents on or before May 12, 2008 unless the Court orders otherwise or unless intervening events warrant an earlier report. Respectfully submitted this 12th day of February, 2008.

/s Alan R. Taradash by /s Donald H. Grove Alan R. Taradash Nordhaus Law Firm, LLP 405 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. NE Albuquerque, NM 87102-3541 telephone: 505-243-4275 facsimile: 505-243-4464

/s Robert W. Rodrigues by /s Donald H. Grove Robert W. Rodrigues U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 663 Washington, DC 20044-0663 telephone: 202-305-0484 facsimile: 202-305-0506 Attorney of Record for Defendant

Attorney of Record for Plaintiff

Thomas J. Peckham Daniel I.S.J. Rey-Bear Deidre A. Lujan Nordhaus Law Firm, LLP 405 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Ave NE Albuquerque, NM 87102 telephone 505-243-4275

Ayako Sato E. Kenneth Stegeby U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 663 Washington, DC 20044-0663 3

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Of Counsel Gladys Cojocari Holly Clement U.S. Department of Interior Office of the Solicitor Washington, DC 20240 Of Counsel

Donald H. Grove Nordhaus Law Firm, LLP Suite 801 1401 K Street NW Washington, DC 20005 telephone 202-530-1270 Of Counsel

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