Free Order on Motion in Limine - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:98-cv-00533-CFL

Document 107

Filed 11/28/2006

Page 1 of 2

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS No. 98-533T and consolidated cases (Filed: November 28, 2006) ____________________________________ ) FENTON GINGERICH, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) ) UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________________) ORDER Pending before the court is the government's motion in limine, filed November 21, 2006, seeking to exclude any exhibits and witnesses the plaintiffs might offer at trial. The government avers that the requested sanction is appropriate because of the plaintiffs' repeated failure to provide either exhibit or witness lists. By an order of January 30, 2006, this court initially set October 2, 2006, as the plaintiffs' deadline to file their memorandum of contentions of fact and
law, witness list, and exhibit list required by Rules of the Court of Federal Claims, App. A, ¶¶ 1416. These filings were not timely made, and this court, during a status conference held October 24, 2006 (Hr'g Tr. 15:6 to 16:2), extended the plaintiffs' deadline until November 7, 2006. By

an order dated November 2, 2006, this court confirmed that extension of the plaintiffs' deadline and rescheduled the trial to commence on December 11, 2006, rather than on November 14, 2006. In a response to the motion in limine, filed November 28, 2006, the plaintiffs ask the court not to exclude their exhibits and witnesses. The plaintiffs aver that compelling reasons existed for their not making the filings. The proffered causes include difficulties supposedly encountered in establishing representative parties' identities because of the death and incapacity of some of the individual plaintiffs, illnesses of the plaintiffs' counsel and her dependent child, and responsibilities of the plaintiffs' counsel in other matters. The plaintiffs also note that they had previously filed witness and exhibit lists in this matter, albeit many years ago. They refer to plaintiffs' Third Amended Exhibit List, filed December 22, 1999, Doc. No. 38, and the witness list included as Exhibit C to Plaintiffs' Response to Defendant's Motion to Compel Answers to Interrogatories, Doc. No. 16 (Mar. 29, 1999). Nonetheless, these prior submissions, by the plaintiffs' own admission, are not currently up to date or effective. Plaintiffs' derelictions are manifest, but the government's motion in limine is DENIED, so long as the plaintiffs file their memorandum of contentions of fact and law, witness list, and exhibit list no later than November 29, 2006, before 5:00 p.m. CST. Absolutely no further extensions will be granted to plaintiffs insofar as trial preparatory steps are concerned. The trial will proceed as scheduled in Houston, commencing on December 11, 2006.

Case 1:98-cv-00533-CFL

Document 107

Filed 11/28/2006

Page 2 of 2

It is so ORDERED. s/ Charles F. Lettow Judge

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