Free Order on Motion to Amend Pleadings - Rule 15(b) - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 315

Filed 10/26/2005

Page 1 of 2

In the United States Court of Federal Claims
No. 98-614C (Filed October 26, 2005) ******************************* SOUTHERN NUCLEAR * OPERATING COMPANY, * ALABAMA POWER COMPANY, * GEORGIA POWER COMPANY, * * Plaintiffs, * * v. * * THE UNITED STATES, * * Defendant. * ******************************* ORDER This Order addresses Plaintiffs' Motion, filed September 23, 2005, for Leave to File an Amended and Supplemental Complaint under RCFC 15(a) and (d) to update the First Amended Complaint for post-filing damages. Plaintiffs also seek an order allowing post-2004 damages to be claimed in a separate complaint. Defendant sought and was granted an enlargement of time until November 18, 2005, to respond to plaintiffs' motion. However, record discussions on October 25, 2005, during the trial of this matter, disclosed that defendant has no objection to the granting of plaintiffs' motion for leave to file, providing that the legal effect of this filing can, to the extent relevant, be addressed in post-trial briefing. Until the decision in Indiana Michigan Power Co. v. United States, 422 F.3d 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2005), pre-trial proceedings in this matter covered damages claimed through 2010. Following this decision by the Circuit Court, damage evidence to be introduced at the trial of this matter was limited to that incurred through December 31, 2004. Because the pre-trial activity addressed a longer time period, this limitation to December 31, 2004, was accomplished, without alteration of the trial date, due to the

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 315

Filed 10/26/2005

Page 2 of 2

excellent cooperation of counsel. The proposed Amended and Supplemental Complaint pleads relevant matters occurring through December 31, 2004, which have been addressed in the trial of this case. Accordingly, it is ORDERED that: (1) Plaintiffs' motion, filed September 23, 2005, shall be GRANTED; (2) To obviate any impact from the enlargement of time granted for a response to plaintiffs' motion, the Amended and Supplemental Complaint tendered with plaintiffs' motion shall be deemed FILED as of October 11, 2005; (3) The time for a pleading responding to plaintiffs' Amended and Supplemental Complaint, filed October 11, 2005, is enlarged to and including November 18, 2005; (4) To the extent relevant, the legal effect of the filing of the Amended and Supplemental Complaint shall be addressed in the post-trial submissions to be scheduled in this litigation; and (5) Consideration of plaintiffs' motion to allow post-2004 damages to be claimed in a separate complaint shall be deferred for inclusion in the post-trial submissions to be scheduled in this matter.

s/ James F. Merow

James F. Merow Senior Judge

-2-