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

Case 1:98-cv-00726-EJD

Document 143

Filed 09/03/2004

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURTOF FEDERALCLAIMS GRASS VALLEY TERRACE, A CALWORNIALIMITED PARTNERSHIP, al., et Plaintiffs, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) )

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No. 98-726C (Chief Judge Damich)

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) JOINT STATIUS REPORT Pursuantto the Court's Orderof February20, 2004, the parties respectfully submitthis status report addressingfurtber proceedingsin this case. h~ accordancewith the Court's February 20, 2004 Order, the parties completeddiscovery in tbis case on August27, 2004. Theparties presently believe that the case shouldproceedto trial, followingpretrial proceedings in accordance with RCFC AppendixA, ~l~113-17. However,the parties also believe that the Court's recent decision in FranconiaAssociates. et al. v. UnitedStates, 97-381(Fed. C1., August30, 2004), mayaffect howthey should proceed in this case, and they require time to evaluate the opinion, whichis 72 pages in length, exclusive of appendices. Franconia, whichwas tried in June 2003, involves many the samelegal and factual issues as are involved in this of case. Theexpert witnesses whotestified in Franconiaare expectedto testify in this case as well, and it is also likely that there will be other overlappingevidencein both cases. Accordingly,tbe parties proposethat they file another joint status report on or before September29, 2004, setting forth a morespecific proposedpretrial schedule. This will enable the parties to detem~ine what effect, if any, the recent decision in Franconiashould have upon

Case 1:98-cv-00726-EJD

Document 143

Filed 09/03/2004

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their pretrial plmming this case, madto incorporatethat detemaination tbe proposedpretrial in in schedule. Regardinga status conference, assumingthat plaintiffs' counsel mayappear by telephone, the parties proposeOctober4, 5, or 13, 2004.

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Case 1:98-cv-00726-EJD

Document 143

Filed 09/03/2004

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Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney Genera1

DAVID M. COHEN Director

MarkJ. 131ando, Of Counsel ECKLAND & BLANDO 700 Lumber Exchange 10 SouthFifth Street Minneapolis, MN55402 Tele: (612) 305-4440 Fax: (612) 305-4439

SHALOMBRILLIANT Senior Trial Counsel CommercialLitigation Branch Civil Division Departmentof Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Atm: Classification Unit Room 8012 Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 305-7561 Fax: (202) 305-7643 Attorneys for Defendant Dated: ~ t~/Of

Attorneysfor Plaintiffs Dated: