Free Motion for Extension of Time to File Answer - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:03-cv-00623-LSM

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Filed 07/18/2003

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS U.S. Financial Corp. Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 03-623C (Senior Judge Margolis)

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 6.1 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC"), defendant respectfully requests a 30day enlargement of time, to and including August 18, 2003, to file a response to the complaint filed by plaintiff, U.S. Financial Corp. ("U.S. Financial"). due on July 18, 2003. Our response is currently

This is our second request for an Plaintiff's counsel

enlargement of time for this purpose. indicated that he opposes this request.

The requested enlargement of time is necessary because we were not able to complete our investigation into the facts underlying this case until July 17, 2003. We did not receive a

litigation report from the Air Force until the week of July 7, 2003. Moreover, Staff Sergeant Kelli Wright, who drafted one of

the key contract modifications in this case and was in direct contact with a representative of the contractor involved in this case, the WINN Group, Inc. ("WINN"), is currently stationed in Germany. 2003. We were first able to contact her by phone on July 17,

Case 1:03-cv-00623-LSM

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Having now completed our review of the facts, we are looking into potential strategies for resolving this case. One

possibility we are contemplating is filing a third-party complaint against WINN, pursuant to RCFC 14(a). Before we can

file such a complaint, we need to obtain internal approval from an authorized representative of the Attorney General and need to draft the motion and pleading required by RCFC 14(a). The rules of this Court do not clearly specify when a motion pursuant to RCFC 14(a) must be filed or whether the third-party claims must be raised in the answer. See RCFC 12(b). We do not

want to waive our right to file a RCFC 14(a) motion by filing an answer prematurely. For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully request that the Court grant our motion to enlarge the time within which we may respond to the plaintiff's complaint by 30 days, to and including August 18, 2003.

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Case 1:03-cv-00623-LSM

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Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director /s Mark A. Melnick MARK A. MELNICK Assistant Director /s Margaret E. McGhee MARGARET E. McGHEE Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, DC 20530 Tel. (202) 305-3634 Fax. (202) 514-8624 July 18, 2003 Attorneys for Defendant

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Case 1:03-cv-00623-LSM

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on July 18, 2003, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN 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. I hereby further certify that on July 18, 2003, I caused to be served by United States mail (first class, postage prepaid) copies of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME" addressed as follows: Paul V. Waters Spriggs & Hollingsworth 1350 I Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20005 s/ Margaret E. McGhee