Free Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:98-cv-00720-GWM

Document 269

Filed 01/03/2005

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS PRECISION PINE & TIMBER, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 98-720C (Judge George Miller)

DEFENDANT'S STATUS REPORT By order dated November 2, 2004, the Court directed that the parties appear for a status conference in this matter on January 4, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., in order to address pretrial scheduling issues. The parties have exchanged proposed pretrial schedules.1 Additionally, in our most recent letter, we invited counsel for Precision Pine telephone to discuss the parties' respective proposals. See Ex. 2 at 2. Precision Pine's attorneys apparently have been unavailable to participate in such discussions. Consequently, to apprise the Court of the parties' positions in advance of the January 4, 2004 status conference, the United States files this status report. As set forth in our December 30, 2004 letter, the United States has proposed that the Court adopt the following pretrial schedule in this action. Plaintiff Identifies Expert Witness on Post-Suspension Harvesting Plaintiff Produces Expert Report on Post-Suspension Harvesting Monday, January 10, 2005 Monday, January 24, 2005

The schedule proposed by Precision Pine & Timber, Inc. ("Precision Pine"), with counsel's accompanying cover letter, is attached to this status report as Exhibit 1. The schedule proposed by the United States, with counsel's accompanying cover letter, is attached as Exhibit 2.

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Case 1:98-cv-00720-GWM

Document 269

Filed 01/03/2005

Page 2 of 3

Parties Exchange Preliminary Witness Lists Parties Exchange Preliminary Exhibit Lists Parties Meet in Accordance with Appendix A, ¶ 13(c) Plaintiff Files Memorandum of Facts and Law (App. A ¶ 14(a)), Final Witness List (App. A ¶ 15), and Final Exhibit List (App. A ¶ 16) Defendant Files Memorandum of Facts and Law (App. A ¶ 14(b)), Final Witness List (App. A ¶ 15), and Final Exhibit List (App. A ¶ 16) Parties File Motions In Limine Parties File Responses To Motions In Limine Pre-Trial Conference Trial

Monday, January 31, 2005 Monday, February 21, 2005 Monday, February 28, 2005 Monday, March 7, 2005

Monday, April 4, 2005

Monday, April 18, 2005 Thursday, April 28, 2005 Thursday, May 5, 2005 Thursday, May 12, 2005

Further, we propose: (1) a period of 30 days after the production of an expert report on post-suspension harvesting to conduct a deposition of Precision Pine's expert;2 (2) the parties be allowed to add exhibits to their preliminary exhibit lists, without cause, up and until the filing of final trial exhibit lists; (3) parties each stipulate to the authenticity of documents that were produced to the opposing party during discovery; (4) the parties each be limited to presenting 40 hours of trial testimony; and (5) the pre-trial conference take place in Washington, D.C., at 10:00 a.m., on Thursday, May 5, 2005.

The United States reserves the right to produce rebuttal reports, if warranted, following this period of discovery. In addition, the United States reserves the right to seek additional discovery if needed as a result of the content of the expert report. 2

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Case 1:98-cv-00720-GWM

Document 269

Filed 01/03/2005

Page 3 of 3

Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Kathryn A. Bleecker KATHRYN A. BLEECKER Assistant Director s/ David A. Harrington OF COUNSEL: Patricia Disert Lori Polin Jones Office of the General Counsel U.S. Department of Agriculture DAVID A. HARRINGTON Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Attorneys for Defendant January 3, 2005

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