| 6/23/01 ASA Activity Update | |||
| Legal Affairs | |||
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Below is the expected order of events and a rough timeline for our legal action. According to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12, government agencies and employees have 60 days to respond to a Complaint once they are served instead of the normal 20 days for all other defendants. In our case, all of the defendants are persons or agencies of the US Government (Gail Norton and the BLM). Since our Complaint was served on May 2l, 2001, the BLM's response (pleadings) is/are due around July 26, 2001 - give or take because of snail mail delays. Within 45 days after the answers to the complaint are filed, we should receive notice from the Court of an early neutral evaluation (ENE) or case management conference (CMC). The purpose of this ENE/CMC is to discuss ways to settle the suit without going to court, a discovery schedule, settlement possibilities, and possibly trial dates. Additional case management conferences may follow. With notification of the CMC, certain actions are required of all parties. They are: |
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| I. Within 21 days before the CMC, the parties attorneys are to get together to discuss the nature of the claims and the defenses, ways that the conflict might be quickly resolved, arrange for voluntary disclosures as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 and develop a discovery plan (i.e. the timing and sequence of depositions, document production, expert witness reporting, etc.) | |||
| II. Within 14 days after the attorneys meet, each of the parties is required to submit in writing the following information to all other parties: | |||
| a. The names and telephone number of any individual the party is aware of who is likely to have relevant information to support a claim or defense. | |||
| b. Provide a copy or a description by category and location of all documents and that support the claim or defense | |||
| c. Provide a written computation of damages claimed (in our case, an outline of the settlement we request = open the dunes). | |||
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We will not be able to initiate depositions or other forms of discovery
until we are notified of the date of the CMC and the attorneys conduct
their conference. |
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Bottom line: It is possible and probable that from filing of the complaint to trial could take 12 months, possibly longer. |
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