Free Reply in Support of Motion - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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DANIEL G. KNAUSS United States Attorney District of Arizona SUZANNE M. CHYNOWETH Assistant U.S. Attorney Arizona State Bar No. 6835 Two Renaissance Square 40 North Central Avenue, Suite 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408 Telephone: (602) 514-7500 Facsimile: (602) 514-7760 E-Mail: [email protected]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Alexander Jung, CIV-04-0429-PHX-MHM Plaintiff, v. John Potter, Postmaster General, U.S. Postal Service, Defendant. Defendant hereby files his reply in support of his motion to continue the July 31, 2007 trial, and requests that the Court grant his request to continue the trial until September 2007 based upon the following Memorandum of Points and Authorities MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES Defendant, John E. Potter, Postmaster General, has requested a continuance of the July 31, 2007 jury trial. [Doc. # 119.] After the Court denied the parties' summary judgment motions, a jury trial was first scheduled for May 8, 2007. [Doc. ## 88, 89.] The parties stipulated to continue that trial date in order to conduct a settlement conference. The Court kindly granted that request, and then set the trial for July 31, 2007. [Doc. ## 111, 112.] Soon after the unsuccessful settlement conference (attended by former agency counsel, Robert O'Connell, Law Department Pacific Area (Pacific Area) and the Managing Counsel for the Western Area Law Department (the Western Area) , Roderick Eves), Judith Sandoval, from the Western Area was assigned to assist at trial. As stated in the Motion to Continue, Arizona has been switched from the Pacific Area to the Western Area, affecting many cases in litigation, including this one. Ms. Sandoval has already traveled to Phoenix twice to assist in trial
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DEFENDANT'S REPLY IN SUPPORT OF HIS MOTION TO CONTINUE TRIAL

1 preparation, and she is to be designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA) to help 2 try this case. 3 Defendant's request is based upon two grounds: (1) one of the two main witnesses in this

4 case, Mark Camper, has been approved and scheduled for a vacation involving a trip to Norway, 5 between July 3, 2007 and August 23, 2007; and (2) Postal Service attorney Judith Sandoval, 6 from the Western Region has been recently assigned to assist at trial on this case. 7 Plaintiff opposes the motion because: Defendant has not demonstrated diligence in

8 securing the attendance of Mr. Camper, Plaintiff is anxious to resolve this case, and some 9 witnesses would be inconvenienced because they "must take off work after the summer months." 10 Even if Mr. Camper were subpoenaed, he could move to quash because the rescheduling of a 11 long standing, extensive and expensive trip out of the country would pose extreme hardship. 12 Defendant diligently arranged for the assistance of agency counsel and began meeting with key 13 witnesses less than three weeks after the unsuccessful mediation. Once counsel learned that Mr. 14 Camper, a key witness to both parties, was unavailable due to long standing vacation plans, the 15 Court and opposing counsel were promptly notified. That fact that Plaintiff is anxious to 16 complete the trial, does not establish that he will be prejudiced by a brief continuance of between 17 30-60 days. Nor does Plaintiff establish that he has key witnesses who will be unable to appear 18 in September and therefore prejudice his case. For example, Plaintiff never specifies what 19 witnesses will be "inconvenienced" should the case be set after the summer. Inconvenience and 20 undue hardship or prejudice are two different things. 21 Finally, given the continued and significant staff shortages in the U.S. Attorneys office,

22 the additional time for Ms. Sandoval to become familiar with the case and prepare for trial would 23 greatly benefit the defendant and the Court, because with more preparation time, the trial will 24 likely proceed much more smoothly and efficiently. Balancing the parties interests and facts 25 surrounding the requested continuance, it is respectfully requested that the Defendant's motion 26 be granted. 27 28 2
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Respectfully submitted this 12th day of June, 2007. DANIEL G. KNAUSS United States Attorney District of Arizona s/Suzanne M. Chynoweth Suzanne M. Chynoweth Assistant U.S. Attorney CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on June 12, 2007, I electronically transmitted the attached document

9 to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of 10 Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: 11 Rosval A. Patterson 12 777 E. Thomas Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85014 13 14 s/S. Guerin U.S. Attorney's Office 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3
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