Free Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:01-cv-00495-EGB

Document 307

Filed 03/17/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS KENT CHRISTOFFERSON et al., Plaintiffs, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 01-495C (Senior Judge Bruggink)

DEFENDANT'S STATUS REPORT Pursuant to the Court's order, defendant submits the following report upon behalf of the parties. Plaintiffs' counsel has reviewed and concurs with this report. Shortly after our last status conference, on January 16, 2008, plaintiff requested that the Government search for documents for the final approximately 35 plaintiffs whose social security numbers did not match agency electronic pay records. The Government has concluded its investigation and has found some hard copy pay sheets for six of these 35 plaintiffs and will forward them to plaintiffs' counsel. The Government has confirmed that it has no record that the others of the 35 worked for the Bureau of the Census in 2000. These plaintiffs were part of the group of 112 first identified in June 2006 about whom the parties have been conferring to identify. Regarding the claim documents, copied in San Francisco, and received by Bureau of Census in Government attorneys in January 2008, as explained in our January 16, 2008 status conference, the Bureau is proceeding with that effort to determine which cases can be settled and which require further information. The Government, as stated during the January 16, 2008 status conference, will finish its review of the claim documents by the end of May 2008. As part of its initial review, by letter dated February 26, 2008, the Government sent a list of approximately 40

Case 1:01-cv-00495-EGB

Document 307

Filed 03/17/2008

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plaintiffs whose claims the Government believed lacked merit because they either are not proper plaintiffs, did not provide the necessary information that their supervisors knew of their overtime, or did not provide the necessary information, except to note that the factual basis for their claim is "privileged." Plaintiffs do not agree with the Government's conclusion that some of these claims lack merit or are defective. The Government intends to supply more names this week, and has offered to supply more on a periodic basis. The parties will discuss how to follow up on these reports and continue to discuss how to implement the Memorandum of Understanding between the parties. In the last period, plaintiff also made counteroffers to resolve the claims of the remaining nine plaintiffs formerly employed in the Concord, California Local Census Office. Defendant's counsel has concluded his analysis of the counter offers, and expects to respond to plaintiffs' offer shortly. On February 13, 2008, via e-mail, plaintiffs provided defendant with a 77-page privilege log of all clients with whom plaintiffs' counsel spoke regarding their claims in the time period from August 2, 2006 through February 27, 2007. Defendant has reviewed plaintiffs' privilege log and has prepared a draft response concerning its view of the sufficiency of the log, which it expects to forward to plaintiffs' counsel this week. Respectfully submitted, JEFFREY S. BUCHOLTZ Acting Assistant Attorney General

s/ Jeanne E. Davidson JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

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Case 1:01-cv-00495-EGB

Document 307

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s/ Steven J. Gillingham STEVEN J. GILLINGHAM Assistant Director Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L St. NW Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 616-2311 Attorneys for Defendant March 17, 2008

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Case 1:01-cv-00495-EGB

Document 307

Filed 03/17/2008

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that, on March 17, 2008, a copy of the foregoing was filed electronically. I understand that notice of this filing will be sent to all parties by operation of the Court's electronic filing system. Parties may access this filing through the Court's system. s/ Steven J. Gillingham