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

Case 1:99-cv-00121-JFM

Document 83

Filed 11/16/2005

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS _______________________________________ ) FORD MOTOR COMPANY, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Defendant. ) ) _______________________________________)

Case No. 99-121C (Judge Merow)

JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to this Court's Order dated September 15, 2005, the parties have undertaken discovery and (with one exception, discussed below) all depositions are complete. With respect to document discovery, the Plaintiff made available for inspection numerous documents (approximately seventeen boxes) for Defendant's review subject only to a reasonable "claw back" procedure designed to allow Defendant to review the documents without any delay associated with a privilege review. Plaintiff made these documents available beginning on October 25, 2005, in response to Defendant's interrogatories and document requests. Defendant notified Plaintiff on November 8 that it would not agree to such proposal, and that it wanted copies of all of the documents. Plaintiff, therefore, is undertaking a privilege review and expects to complete that review in the near future. In response to Plaintiff's discovery, Defendant has so far refused to produce documents, or designate a Rule 30(b)(6) witness, with respect to one subject matter that

Case 1:99-cv-00121-JFM

Document 83

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Plaintiff believes is relevant to this case. Moreover, Defendant's responses to Plaintiff`s requests for admission and interrogatories require amendment (and Plaintiff has already made a request for amendment with respect to several of the responses). Plaintiff, therefore, reserves its right to bring these matters to the Court's attention if they are not satisfactorily resolved in the near future. Also pursuant to this Court's Order dated September 15, 2005, the parties have conferred and reached agreement as to the proposed schedule for the exchanges and submissions required by ¶¶ 13-18 of RCFC Appendix A. Given the simplicity of the issues in this case, the matter could be resolved on an expedited basis. Accordingly, the parties have agreed upon, and respectfully request the Court to approve, the following proposed schedule: (1) On or before December 15, 2005, the parties are to conduct the meeting of counsel and make the exchanges contemplated by RCFC Appendix A ¶ 13. (2) On or before January 17, 2005, Plaintiff and Defendant are to file their Memorandum of Contentions of Fact and Law pursuant to RCFC Appendix A ¶ 14 and the submissions required under RCFC Appendix A, ¶¶ 15-16. (3) The parties would be available for a pretrial conference at any time after January 17, 2005, and would be available for trial during the weeks of January 23, January 30, and February 6. The parties currently anticipate that trial would last less than one week, and most likely could be completed in one or two full days.

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Case 1:99-cv-00121-JFM

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Respectfully submitted, s/Charles J. Cooper Charles J. Cooper Counsel of Record Michael W. Kirk Vincent J. Colatriano Nicholas A. Oldham Cooper & Kirk, PLLC Suite 200 1500 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005 Phone: 202-220-9600 Fax: 202-220-9601 Attorneys for Plaintiff PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General

DAVID M. COHEN Director

KYLE CHADWICK Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 1100 L Street, N.W., 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 305-7562 Fax: (202) 305-7644 Attorneys for Defendant

November 16, 2005

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Case 1:99-cv-00121-JFM

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that, pursuant to the Court's Electronic Case Management System, the foregoing document was served electronically by the court upon the following on this 16th day of November 2005:

Kyle Chadwick, Esq. Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn.: Classification Unit, 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530

s/ Charles J. Cooper_______