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

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 263

Filed 12/23/2004

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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 UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME TO COMPLETE FACT DISCOVERY 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 for the parties to complete fact discovery. The current discovery deadline is set for December 31, 2004. By this motion, the Government seeks an enlargement of that deadline to March 1, 2005. This motion does not affect the April 1, 2005, expert discovery deadline set by this Court. The Government has represented to plaintiffs' counsel that the enlargement of time is not intended to delay the completion of any depositions the plaintiffs may seek to take, to delay the production of the Government's expert reports, or to delay the trial of this matter. Instead, the purpose of the enlargement is to provide sufficient time to the Government to complete fact discovery depositions. Based upon these representations, counsel for plaintiffs has represented that the plaintiffs, Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Alabama Power Company, and Georgia Power Company, do not oppose the Government's enlargement request. The Government seeks this enlargement based upon the significant amount of documentary review necessitated by plaintiffs' claims and by their document productions, as well

Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 263

Filed 12/23/2004

Page 2 of 4

as upon the number of remaining depositions that must be taken in this litigation. Specifically, the Government has reviewed thousands of pages of documents in preparation for depositions and expert discovery. The Government has begun depositions in this case and has identified an additional 13 depositions that will need to take place over the next two months. Additionally, based upon the Court's December 20 order that allows plaintiffs to litigate damages through 2020, additional time is needed as plaintiffs have not yet produced any claim for costs postdating 2010. As a result, the Government currently is unaware of both the type and amount of ten years of damages plaintiffs now are seeking in this case. The Government has requested that plaintiffs update their claim to reflect post-2010 damages categories and amounts immediately. Finally, in addition to their work upon this litigation, and as this Court likely is aware, Government counsel in this litigation has been preparing post-trial findings and briefs in the Yankee cases. The extensive post-trial briefing process in those cases has made it difficult to engage in significant deposition discovery and associated travel here. For the foregoing reasons, we respectfully request that the Court grant this request for an enlargement of time.

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Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 263

Filed 12/23/2004

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Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Harold D. Lester, Jr. HAROLD D. LESTER, JR. Assistant Director s/ Marian E. Sullivan MARIAN E. SULLIVAN Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 307-6288 Fax: (202) 307-2503 December 23, 2004 Attorneys for Defendant

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Case 1:98-cv-00614-JFM

Document 263

Filed 12/23/2004

Page 4 of 4

CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on this 23rd day of December, 2004, a copy of foregoing "DEFENDANT'S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME TO COMPLETE FACT DISCOVERY" 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