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

Case 1:98-cv-00726-EJD

Document 182

Filed 01/26/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ______________________________________________________________________________

GRASS VALLEY TERRACE, a California Limited Partnership, et al.,
Plaintiffs, v. THE UNITED STATES Defendant. ______________________________________________________________________________ JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's Order of November 21, 2005, the parties respectfully submit the following Joint Status Report concerning their progress with respect to the potential for settlement in this case. The parties are pleased to report that, since the filing of their previous Joint Status Report on November 18, 2005, they have made significant progress in their efforts to settle this matter as well as hundreds of other related cases. Counsel for the parties have held numerous conferences and meetings over the past two months in an attempt to reach final agreement on various settlement terms. These discussions have included lengthy face-to-face meetings held on December 16, 2005 and January 17, 2006 in Washington, D.C., and numerous telephonic conferences, including discussions held on January 6, 2006, January 20, 2006, January 23, 2006, and January 26, 2006. Most recently, plaintiffs forwarded to defendant on January 20, 2006 a detailed settlement term sheet. The parties are in the process of discussing and revising these terms with File No. 98-726C and consolidated cases (Chief Judge Edward J. Damich)

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Case 1:98-cv-00726-EJD

Document 182

Filed 01/26/2006

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the goal of preparing a final settlement agreement that would encompass not only the claims in this matter, but also potentially the claims of the plaintiffs in approximately 200 related cases pending before the Court. The parties have also been greatly assisted in their settlement efforts by the involvement of the Alternative Dispute Resolution judge, the Honorable Marian Blank Horn. The parties submitted status reports to the ADR judge on December 19, 2005 and January 11, 2006, and then held an in-person conference with the ADR judge on January 18, 2006. The parties are scheduled to hold another conference with Judge Horn on February 13, 2006. The parties also note that the deadline for the completion of additional discovery in this case is currently set, pursuant to the parties' request, for January 31, 2006. The parties wish to continue to focus their efforts on the potential resolution of this matter rather than conducting the additional discovery that will be required should their efforts ultimately prove unsuccessful. Given the marked progress that the parties have made to date, the parties propose that they be permitted to continue their current settlement efforts until March 23, 2006. If a settlement is not substantially reached by that date, the parties propose that additional discovery commence at that time and be completed by May 1, 2006. In sum, the parties believe that they have made substantial progress over the past two months and desire to continue with their efforts to reach an amicable resolution of this matter at least until March 23, 2006.

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Case 1:98-cv-00726-EJD

Document 182

Filed 01/26/2006

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Respectfully submitted, s/ Jeff H. Eckland JEFF H. ECKLAND Mark J. Blando, Of Counsel ECKLAND & BLANDO LLP 500 Lumber Exchange 10 South Fifth Street Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 Telephone: (612) 236-0160 Facsimile: (612) 236-0179 Jerry W. Snider, Of Counsel William L. Roberts, Of Counsel Mark D. Savin, Of Counsel FAEGRE & BENSON LLP 2200 Wells Fargo Center Minneapolis, MN 55402 Telephone: (612) 766-7000 Facsimile: (612) 766-1600 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Dated: January 26, 2006 Filed Electronically With the consent of the Attorney for Defendant PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General s/ David M. Cohen DAVID M. COHEN Director s/ Shalom Brilliant SHALOM BRILLIANT Senior Trial Counsel Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit Room 8012 Washington, D.C. 20530 Telephone: (202) 305-7561 Facsimile: (202) 305-7643 Attorneys for Defendant

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