Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:98-cv-00483-LMB

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS (Electronically Filed on March 6, 2006) __________________________________________ ) FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) THE UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) __________________________________________) JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's February 6, 2006 Order, Plaintiff Florida Power and Light Company and Defendant, the United States, respectfully and jointly submit this status report regarding their proposal for further proceedings in this case. The Court's February 6 Order directed the parties to "summarize the overall litigation posture of the SNF cases" pending in this Court and added that because this case "is no longer a `lead' case in a practical sense, it may prevent duplicative litigation to stay this case pending the resolution of some others." The Court also directed the parties to explain whether supplemental briefing on the pending partially dispositive motions in this case is necessary and to estimate the time needed to resolve these motions before a trial can take place. The parties agree that, as a practical matter, this case is no longer a "lead" case and that a stay of six months is appropriate here pending the resolution of other SNF damages cases in this Court which have proceeded to a more advanced stage. For example, the parties believe that trial decisions may soon be issued in at least two other cases ­ Yankee Atomic Elec. Co. v. United States, No. 98-126C (Merow, S.J.) and Sacramento Mun. Util. Dist. v. United States, No. 98-488C (Braden, J.) which may inform resolution of some of the pending issues in this case. Furthermore, the time period for any appeal of this Court's recent decision awarding the plaintiff damages in

No. 98-483C (Judge Baskir)

Case 1:98-cv-00483-LMB

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Tennessee Valley Auth. v. United States, 2006 WL 242671 (Fed. Cl. Jan. 31, 2006), has also not yet expired, but if an appeal is taken to the Federal Circuit in that case the resultant decision could control various issues pending in this case, such as, inter alia, the types of damages that are recoverable in a partial breach action. In addition, briefing has been completed (but argument has not yet been scheduled) in the appeal of PSEG Nuclear, L.L.C. to the Federal Circuit (No. 05-5162), which case involves the jurisdiction of this Court to hear the spent nuclear fuel cases. In summary, multiple cases are proceeding on various fronts which could either control or inform this Court's resolution of various key issues in this case. A stay is also desirable since counsel for the parties have been and will be extensively engaged in discovery and other pre-trial matters in several other SNF cases pending before this Court. For example, damages trials involving the undersigned counsel are currently scheduled to commence on September 18, 2006 in System Fuels, Inc. v. United States, No. 03-2624C (Braden, J.) and on October 23, 2006 in Northern States Power Co. v. United States, No. 98-484C (Wiese, S.J.). In addition to these trials, trials also have been scheduled in the following four SNF cases to occur between June 2006 and May 2007 ­ Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. United States, Nos. 04-0074 and 04-0075 (Hewitt, J.), June 5-16, 2006; System Fuels, Inc. v. United States, No. 032623 (Lettow, J.), February 12-23, 2007; Wisconsin Electric Power Co. v. United States, No. 00697 (Merow, S.J.), March 27-April 16, 2007; and Boston Edison Co. v. United States, No. 99447C/Entergy Nuclear Generation Co. v. United States, No. 03-2626C (Lettow, J.), May 7-18, 2007. Thus, for the foregoing reasons, the parties respectfully request that the Court issue an Order staying this case for six additional months, i.e., until September 6, 2006. The parties further propose to file a status report with the Court on or before September 7, 2006 advising the Court as to appropriate further developments in the case, including possibly resumption of a briefing

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schedule. In that regard, the parties agree with the Court's suggestion that supplemental briefing addressing recent decisions on the pending partially dispositive motions issued in other SNF cases is appropriate. The parties currently expect that approximately three months for supplemental briefing will be necessary, once the stay is lifted, to update the briefs and to address the impact of decisions in the other SNF cases on the issues that remain before the Court in this case.

Dated: March 6, 2006 OF COUNSEL: Jay E. Silberg Daniel S. Herzfeld Jack Y. Chu PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP 2300 N Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037 (202) 663-8000 (202) 663-8007 (fax)

Respectfully submitted, s/ Alex D. Tomaszczuk by s/ Jack Y. Chu Alex D. Tomaszczuk PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP 1650 Tysons Boulevard McLean, VA 22102-4859 (703) 770-7940 (703) 770-7901 (fax) Counsel of Record for Plaintiff Florida Power and Light Company

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PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Harold D. Lester, Jr. by s/ Jack Y. Chu HAROLD D. LESTER, JR. Assistant Director s/ Marian E. Sullivan by s/ Jack Y. Chu MARIAN E. SULLIVAN Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 616-0478 Fax: (202) 307-2503 Attorneys for Defendant

OF COUNSEL: JANE K. TAYLOR MARTHA S. CROSLAND Office of General Counsel U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20585

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