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

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 335

Filed 04/24/2006

Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS SOUTHERN NUCLEAR OPERATING COMPANY; ALABAMA POWER COMPANY; and GEORGIA POWER COMPANY, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 98-614C (Senior Judge Merow)

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME TO FILE ITS POST-TRIAL BRIEF Pursuant to Rule 6(b) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC"), defendant, the United States, respectfully requests an enlargement of time of 21 days, through and including May 19, 2006, in which to file its post-trial brief. The Government's post-trial brief currently is due April 28, 2006. Counsel for plaintiffs, M. Stanford Blanton, has represented that the plaintiffs oppose this motion. The instant motion is precipitated by several issues. First, the Government was served with a 166-page post-trial brief by the plaintiffs which has taken considerable time to review and analyze. Based upon the size and scope of that filing, additional time is needed to complete the internal review and analysis of the plaintiffs' brief to determine the Government's position on the significant factual and legal issues that it raises. Second, the schedules of the primary attorneys upon this case and several necessary reviewers have affected, and will continue to affect, our ability to complete our response and the review of that response by the April 28, 2006 deadline. As this Court may be aware, several pretrial pleadings, including the Government's pre-trial brief, currently are due May 1, 2006, in Pacific Gas & Electric v. United States, 04-0074 (Hewitt), and the oral argument in the PSEG

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 335

Filed 04/24/2006

Page 2 of 4

Nuclear appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is scheduled that day as well. These deadlines have affected the time that we have to devote to the preparation and review of the Government's post-trial brief. We believe that the requested enlargement will provide the Government sufficient time to finalize its response and have that response reviewed internally. Significantly, the requested enlargement will not affect the closing arguments, scheduled for July 11, 2006. Instead, this Court only will be required to move the due date for the plaintiffs' reply from May 26, 2006, to June 16, 2006, to account for the additional time provided to the Government. Under this schedule, the plaintiffs' reply brief will be filed more three weeks in advance of closing arguments. For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully request that the Court grant this request for an enlargement through and including May 19, 2006, with a corresponding enlargement for plaintiffs' reply to June 16, 2006. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Harold D. Lester, Jr. HAROLD D. LESTER, JR. Assistant Director

-2-

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 335

Filed 04/24/2006

Page 3 of 4

OF COUNSEL: JANE K. TAYLOR Office of the General Counsel U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20585 STEPHEN FINN JOSHUA GARDNER HEIDE L. HERRMANN MARIAN E. SULLIVAN Trial Attorneys Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Washington, D.C. 20530 April 24, 2006 s/ John C. Ekman JOHN C. EKMAN Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 353-0897 Fax: (202) 307-2503

Attorneys for Defendant

-3-

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 335

Filed 04/24/2006

Page 4 of 4

CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on this 24th day of April, 2006, a copy of foregoing "DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME TO FILE ITS POSTTRIAL BRIEF" 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/ John C. Ekman