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

Case 1:03-cv-01242-CFL

Document 87

Filed 05/30/2007

Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS UNITED PARTITION SYSTEMS, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 03-1242C (Judge Lettow)

DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF TIME Pursuant to Rule 6.1 of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims, defendant, the United States, respectfully requests that the Court enlarge by 30 days the deadline for defendant's expert witness report and final deadline for expert discovery in the above-titled matter. Defendant's expert witness report is currently due on May 30, 2007, and expert discovery is currently scheduled to conclude on July 11, 2007. This is our third request for an enlargement of time for this purpose, the Court having previously granted a 45-day extension and a 30-day extension. We attempted to contact counsel for United Partition Systems, Inc. ("United Partition") by leaving a voicemail message for him asking whether he would oppose this extension. We were informed by his office that plaintiff's counsel is out of the office until early June, and we have not received a return telephone call from him. As a result, we do not know whether plaintiff opposes this motion. The Government has completed a preliminary test of the materials at issue. Unfortunately, delays in receiving the preliminary test results from the laboratory resulted in the preliminary test taking longer than expected. Moreover, additional time is needed to conduct further more extensive testing. This more extensive testing and analysis requires that additional larger sample sections of the building be shipped from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona to the

Case 1:03-cv-01242-CFL

Document 87

Filed 05/30/2007

Page 2 of 4

laboratory in New York because there was not enough of the sample remaining to conduct further tests after the preliminary test was completed. Once the more extensive test is completed by the laboratory, the expert can complete his review and analysis and prepare an expert report. As a result, the defendant's expert report cannot be completed by the current deadline of May 30, 2007. Enlarging the time allowed for expert discovery will allow the defendant to complete its expert report and allow the parties to complete any necessary expert witness depositions and/or written discovery and file any motions to compel that may be necessary. Granting this request for an enlargement should not cause any material inconvenience, prejudice, or delay. Accordingly, we respectfully request that this Court enlarge by 30 days, to and including June 29, 2007, the deadline for completion of defendant's expert witness report. We further request that this Court enlarge by 30 days, to and including August 10, 2007, the final deadline for expert discovery and all subsequent deadlines in this matter.

Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General JEANNE E. DAVIDSON Director

-2-

Case 1:03-cv-01242-CFL

Document 87

Filed 05/30/2007

Page 3 of 4

s/ Harold D. Lester, Jr. HAROLD D. LESTER, JR. Assistant Director s/ Robert C. Bigler ROBERT C. BIGLER Trial Attorney Department of Justice Civil Division Commercial Litigation Branch 1100 L. Street, NW Attn: Classification Unit 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel: (202) 307-0315 Fax: (202) 514-8624 May 30, 2007 Attorneys for Defendant

-3-

Case 1:03-cv-01242-CFL

Document 87

Filed 05/30/2007

Page 4 of 4

CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on this 30th day of May 2007, 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/ Robert C. Bigler