Free Motion to Amend Schedule - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:96-cv-00700-LB

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS APACHE APARTMENT OF OWATONA, ET AL., Plaintiffs, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 96-700C (Judge Block)

JOINT MOTION FOR MODIFICATION OF SCHEDULING ORDER Pursuant to Rule 6(b) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims, plaintiffs, Apache Apartments of Owatonna, et al., and defendant, the United States, hereby jointly move to modify the Scheduling Order issued in this case on July 29, 2004. By this motion, the parties request that all

pending deadlines be extended by a period of approximately three months. Accordingly, the parties request that the remaining

schedule be modified as follows: Completion of fact discovery: January 20, 2005;

Disclosure of identity of experts and production of expert reports: March 8, 2005;



Production of expert rebuttal reports, if any: April 5, 2005;



Completion of depositions of expert witnesses: 2005;

May 23,



Joint Status Report due:

June 8, 2005.

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This is the parties' second joint request to enlarge the time for completing fact and expert discovery; the Court, on July 29, 2004, extended the pre-trial schedule by two months. Counsel

for both parties have discussed this motion and agree to an amendment of the remaining deadlines in this case as set forth above. The parties request the amendment because on August 17, 2004, the Court consolidated Chancellor Manor v. United States, No. 98-39C (Fed. Cl.), a case that involves almost the same issues that concern this case, with another, related case, Cienega Gardens v. United States, No. 98-39C (Fed. Cl.), for purposes of trial. The Court scheduled that trial for November

8-11, November 15-19, December 1-3, and December 6-10, 2004. Counsel for plaintiffs in this case is also lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Chancellor Manor, and counsel for the Government in this case is co-counsel for the Government in Chancellor Manor. Although the parties have engaged in discovery in this case since the consolidation of the Chancellor Manor and Cienega Gardens, it has become apparent that the efforts of both counsel will be increasingly occupied with pre-trial preparation in Chancellor Manor in the coming weeks; the same weeks in which the parties would have to conduct discovery and produce expert reports in this case, to the extent that the parties no longer expect to be able to meet the deadlines set forth in the Court's July 29, 2004

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order.

The parties also expect that extending discovery in this

case until after the Cienega Gardens/Chancellor Manor trial will make further discovery in this case - particularly expert discovery - more efficient, as the Cienega Gardens/Chancellor Manor trial will likely clarify the issues in this case. Therefore, the parties respectfully request that the Court, for good cause shown, extend each of the current deadlines by a period of three months as set forth above. Prior to the filing of this joint motion, counsel for plaintiffs read this motion, and consented to its electronic filing.

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Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director

s/Jeff H. Eckland /by Mark J. Blando JEFF H. ECKLAND, ESQ. FAEGRE & BENSON, LLP 2200 Wells Fargo Center 90 South Seventh Street Minneapolis, MN 55402 Attorney for Plaintiffs October 4, 2004

s/Brian M. Simkin BRIAN M. SIMKIN Assistant Director

s/Timothy P. McIlmail TIMOTHY P. MCILMAIL Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Telephone: (202) 307-0361 Facsimile: (202) 514-7965 Attorneys for Defendant October 4, 2004

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