Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_05-cv-00826/USCOURTS-caed-1_05-cv-00826-4/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 190
Nature of Suit: Other Contract Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Breach of Contract

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Stip. and Proposed Order Cont. Hearings on Motions to Remand and to Compel Arbitration 877106v3 35894/0001

MARY E. OLDEN (109373) 

ANDRÉ K. CAMPBELL (188585) 

McDONOUGH HOLLAND & ALLEN PC 

Attorneys at Law 

555 Capitol Mall, 9th Floor 

Sacramento, CA 95814 

Phone: 916.444.3900 

Fax: 916.442.2780 

Attorneys for Lawrence G. Gray 

as Bankruptcy Trustee for 

Solveson Crane Company 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

FRESNO DIVISION 

SOLVESON CRANE COMPANY, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

D. H. BLATTNER & SONS, INC., et al., 

Defendants. 

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No. 1:05-CV-00826-OWW-SMS 

STIPULATION AND PROPOSED 

ORDER CONTINUING HEARINGS 

ON MOTIONS TO REMAND AND TO 

COMPEL ARBITRATION 

Date: April 10, 2006 

Time: 10:00 a.m. 

Place: Courtroom 2 

The Honorable Oliver W. Wanger 

Lawrence G. Gray,

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as bankruptcy trustee for plaintiff Solveson Crane Company and as 

transferee of its interest pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 541 and Rule 25 of the Fed. R. Civ. P., and 

defendant D. H. Blattner & Sons, Inc. ("Blattner" or "defendant"), hereby stipulate that the Court 

continue until April 10, 2006 the hearings on the motion of plaintiff to remand this action to state 

court and the hearing on the motion of defendants to compel arbitration, which are currently set for 

hearing on March 22, 2006, based on the following facts: 

1. On or about January 14, 2005, Solveson filed a voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy 

petition, In re Solveson Crane Company, United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of 

 

1 Mr. Gray will, if the Court wishes, file a request to substitute himself as assignee of the 

plaintiff's claim. 

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Stip. and Proposed Order Cont. Hearings on Motions to Remand and to Compel Arbitration 877106v3 35894/0001

California, Case No. 05-20490. Solveson was in the business of supplying cranes and related 

equipment and labor on construction jobs. 

2. On or about May 6, 2005, Solveson, as a debtor in possession, filed this lawsuit with 

the Kern County Superior Court, Case No. S-1500-CV. Solveson alleges in the complaint that it is 

owed in excess of $4,797,608.84 for labor and materials it supplied on a construction project for the 

erection of windmill towers at the Oasis Wind Farm in Mojave, California. The complaint contains 

causes of action for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, violation of California's 

"prompt payment" statutes, and foreclosure of a mechanic's lien. Blattner was the original general 

contractor on the construction project. 

3. On or about May 10, 2005, Solveson's chapter 11 bankruptcy case was converted to 

Chapter 7 and Larry Gray was appointed chapter 7 trustee. 

4. On or about June 24, 2005, Blattner filed with this Court a Notice of Removal, 

alleging this Court has jurisdiction over Solveson's lawsuit pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. 

Section 1334(b) because it is related to a case under Title 11 and pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. 

Section 1332 based on diversity jurisdiction. 

5. On or about July 1, 2005, Blattner filed its answer to the complaint. 

6. On or about July 25, 2005, Solveson filed a motion to remand the case. The motion 

was calendared to be heard on September 9, 2005. 

7. On or about August 19, 2005, Blattner filed a motion to stay the instant case and 

compel arbitration. The motion was calendared to be heard on September 26, 2005. On August 22, 

2005, the Court continued the hearing on Solveson's remand motion to September 26, 2005, so that it 

could be heard concurrently with Blattner's motion to stay the case and compel arbitration. 

8. Blattner obtained relief from the automatic stay in Solveson's bankruptcy case, 

allowing Blattner to assert such counterclaims in this case, which Blattner has done, and to which 

Mr. Gray has responded. 

9. On or about September 12, 2005, the parties submitted to the Court a joint stipulation 

continuing the hearings on the motion to remand the case and the motion to stay the case and compel 

arbitration. The stipulation stated the parties anticipate holding the mediation within the next 

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Stip. and Proposed Order Cont. Hearings on Motions to Remand and to Compel Arbitration 877106v3 35894/0001

60 days, and, accordingly, requested the Court to continue the hearings on both motions to 

December 5, 2005 (or another date and time convenient to the Court). 

10. The stipulation was so ordered by the Court on September 16, 2005. The Court 

continued the hearings on both motions to December 12, 2005, to be heard by the Honorable 

Oliver W. Wanger. 

11. At the time of Mr. Gray's appointment, plaintiff was represented by Weintraub 

Genshlea Chediak which had filed the action on Solveson's behalf, and was still counsel when 

Mr. Gray succeeded to plaintiff's right to prosecute the action. In the interim, two attorneys with that 

firm who had primary responsibility for representing plaintiff, Donna T. Parkinson and Thomas G. 

Trost, left the firm. As a result, Mr. Gray sought other counsel. On November 21, 2005, the 

bankruptcy court appointed McDonough Holland & Allen PC as counsel for Mr. Gray in this action. 

A true and correct copy of the order appointing McDonough Holland & Allen PC is attached hereto 

as Exhibit A. 

12. The parties are now preparing to go to mediation before mediator Kenneth C. Gibbs. 

The parties originally selected a mediation date, February 16, 2006, in order to give McDonough 

Holland & Allen PC time to familiarize itself with the case. In anticipation of mediation, the parties 

have engaged in a limited document exchange in a good faith effort to improve the likelihood that 

this matter will be resolved by mediation. 

13. The necessity for Mr. Gray to obtain new counsel, and to obtain an order from the 

Bankruptcy Court appointing and authorizing that counsel to act, delayed the mediation date. The 

mediation is now set for March 10, and the parties are in the process of exchanging briefs and 

exhibits, as well as providing them to the mediator. 

14. If the mediation does not dispose of the entire case, the motions are both dispositive 

motions regarding the issue of whether this case will remain with this Court. 

15. Based on the fact that the parties have agreed to mediate this case in an effort to 

resolve the entire case and that, if the mediation is successful, the Court will not need to hear and 

decide two potentially dispositive motions, it is in the interests of judicial efficiency and economy to 

continue the hearings on the motion to remand and to compel the arbitration until it is determined 

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Stip. and Proposed Order Cont. Hearings on Motions to Remand and to Compel Arbitration 877106v3 35894/0001

whether the matter is resolved by way of mediation. 

16. In the event the mediation is unsuccessful, the parties request a continued hearing 

date on April 10, 2006, approximately one month after the mediation date. 

WHEREFORE, the parties jointly request that the hearings on the motions for remand and to 

compel arbitration be heard on April 10, 2006, to allow the parties an opportunity to resolve this 

action by mediation. 

Dated: March 3, 2006 

McDONOUGH HOLLAND & ALLEN PC 

Attorneys at Law 

By: /s/ Mary E. Olden 

Mary E. Olden 

Attorneys for Lawrence G. Gray, as Bankruptcy 

Trustee for Solveson Crane Company 

Dated: March 3, 20906 

FABYANSKE, WESTRA, HART & THOMSON, 

P.A. 

By: /s/ Kyle E. Hart 

Kyle E. Hart 

Attorneys for Defendants D. H. Blattner & Sons, Inc., 

et al. 

IT IS SO ORDERED 

Dated: March 8, 2006 /s/ OLIVER W. WANGER

OLIVER W. WANGER 

JUDGE OF THE U. S. DISTRICT COURT 

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Stip. and Proposed Order Cont. Hearings on Motions to Remand and to Compel Arbitration 877106v3 35894/0001

COURT: United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Fresno Division 

No. 1:05-CV-00826-OWW-SMS 

CASE: Solveson Crane Company v. D. H. Blattner & Sons, Inc., et al.

PROOF OF SERVICE 

I am employed in the County of Sacramento; my business address is 555 Capitol Mall, 

9th Floor, Sacramento, California. I am over the age of 18 years and not a party to the foregoing 

action. 

I am readily familiar with the business practice at my place of business for collection and 

processing of correspondence for mailing with the United States Postal Service. Correspondence so 

collected and processed is deposited with the United States Postal Service that same day in the 

ordinary course of business. 

On March 3, 29006, I served a copy of the attached: 

Stipulation and Proposed Order Continuing Hearings on Motions to Remand and to Compel 

Arbitration 

by transmitting via email the document(s) listed above on this date before 5:00 p.m. 

Representing D. H. Blattner & Sons, Inc. Kyle E. Hart , Esq. 

Fabyanske, Westra, Hart and Thomson, P. A. 

800 LaSalle Avenue , Suite 1900 

Minneapolis, MN 55402 

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing 

is true and correct and that this document was executed on March 3, 2006. 

/s/ Marsha Stamper 

MARSHA STAMPER 

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