Free Motion for Extension of Time to File Answer - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:06-cv-00695-MMS

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Filed 11/30/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS BRICKWOOD CONTRACTORS, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 06-695C (Chief Judge Damich)

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 6(b)(1) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC"), defendant, the United States, respectfully requests a 45-day enlargement of time, to and including January 25, 2007, within which to file its response to the complaint. Our response is currently due on December 11, 2006. This is defendant's first request for an enlargement of time for this purpose. We have not contacted plaintiff, Brickwood Contractors, Inc. ("Brickwood"), regarding this motion, because plaintiff is not currently represented by counsel. This enlargement is requested because Brickwood has not been represented by counsel as of November 7, 2006, the date on which the Court granted the motion of the law firm of Katz & Stone and its attorneys to withdraw. RCFC 83.1(c)(8) requires corporate parties to be represented by counsel.1 The November 7, 2006 order gave Brickwood until November 29, 2006 to retain new counsel. However, it seems that Brickwood did not receive the November 7, 2006 order granting the motion to withdraw. Therefore, on November 21, 2006, the Court extended the deadline for Brickwood to retain new counsel to January 12, 2007. In light of this extension, we request an enlargement of time to give Brickwood a reasonable amount of time to

It is clear that Brickwood is aware of this requirement in light of the fact that its previous lawsuit involving the same contract, Fed. Cl. No. 05-271C, was dismissed for failure to retain counsel.

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Case 1:06-cv-00695-MMS

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retain counsel prior to either responding to its complaint (if it retains counsel) or filing a motion to dismiss based upon failure to prosecute. For these reasons, defendant respectfully requests that the Court grant its motion for an enlargement of time. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director /s/ BRYANT G. SNEE BRYANT G. SNEE Assistant Director /s/ MEREDYTH D. COHEN MEREDYTH D. COHEN Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor, 1100 L St. Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel: (202) 353-7978 Fax: (202) 514-8624 November 30, 2006 Attorneys for Respondent

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on November 30, 2006, a copy of the foregoing "DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR ENLARGEMENT OF TIME" 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/ Meredyth D. Cohen