UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF HEARINGS 

IN THE MATTER OF: 

B&G INDUSTRIES, 

Respondent 

Thursday, 

January 21, 2016 

FDMS No. 

FAA-2015-2442 

1 

The teleconference convened, pursuant 

to notice, at 1:30 p.m. 

BEFORE: 

THE HONORABLE J.E. SULLIVAN, 

Administrative Law Judge 

(202) 234-4433 

ORIGINAl 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
APPEARANCES: 

On Behalf of the Complainant: 

ROBERT SPITZER, ESQ. 

Of: Federal Aviation Administration 

Office of the Regional Counsel 

Northwest Mountain Region 

1601 Lind Avenue, S.W. 

Renton, WA 98057 

Tel: (425) 227-1847 

Fax: (425) 227-1007 

Email: robert.spitzer@faa.gov 

On Behalf of the Respondent: 

KARL BERTAGNOLE 

President 

B&G Industries, LLC 

P.O. Box 669 

Greybull, WY 82426 

Tel: (307) 765-9911 

Email: kbertagnole@bgiaviation.com 

ALSO PRESENT: 

CODY L. SMITH, Attorney Advisor, DOT OH 

NEAL R. GROSS 

2 

(202) 234-4433 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., NW. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
(202) 234-4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., NW. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 

3 

www.nealrgross.com 
4 

1 P-R-0-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 

2 (1:36 p.m.) 

3 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. We are 

4 on the record in the matter of B&G Industries, 

5 LLC. This is Docket No. FAA-2015-2442. Today is 

6 Thursday, January 21, 2016. The parties have 

7 convened for a Court-directed Rule 16 Litigation 

8 Scheduling Conference. 

9 The Federal Aviation Administration, 

10 which I'll hereinafter refer to by its initials 

11 the FAA, is represented by its attorney of 

12 record, Mr. Robert Spitzer. 

13 The Respondent, B&G Industries, LLC, 

14 is represented by its lay-owner Mr. Karl 

15 Bertagnole. 

16 Also present at the Office of 

17 Hearings, sitting in as an observer only this 

18 afternoon, is Mr. Cody L. Smith, an attorney 

19 advisor with this office. 

20 So good afternoon to you all. What 

21 I'm going to do is I'm going to briefly outline 

22 the history of the case up to today; talk a 

(202) 234-4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
5 

1 little bit about some problems that hopefully can 

2 get corrected and also entertain, then, a motion 

3 that might be pending for consideration before 

4 the Court. 

5 So essentially, on October 1, 2015, 

6 this Court issued an order setting a Rule 16 

7 Litigation Scheduling Conference and directing 

8 the parties to confer and file a Rule 26 (f) 

9 Proposed Discovery Plan. 

10 As part of that order, the parties 

11 were directed to privately conduct a planning and 

12 discovery meeting and to submit a written 

13 Scheduling and Discovery Plan on or before 

14 January 14, 2016 for the Court's consideration 

15 before convening for today's conference on 

16 January 21, 2016. 

17 I'll note that on January 15, 2016, 

18 Mr. Bertagnole, on behalf of the Respondent, B&G 

19 Industries, LLC, did timely file a unilateral 

20 statement that was two pages long indicating 

21 I'm sorry, three pages long with an attached 

22 if I include the attachment, indicating that he 

(202) 234-4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
6 

1 had tried to contact the FAA to conduct the 

2 planning meeting and had not been successful, and 

3 that he was not quite sure what else he could do 

4 other than to apprise the Court of that problem. 

5 The FAA failed to file a unilateral 

6 plan and there has been no action by the FAA, at 

7 least in the Court's file. 

8 So I need to talk to you, Mr. Spitzer, 

9 about that, because it's troubling to the Court 

10 that the FAA failed to comply with the Court's 

11 order. And I wanted to ask you what happened? 

12 MR. SPITZER: Yes, Your Honor. It's 

13 just workload issues and the fact that we have a 

14 pending settlement agreement in this case. So we 

15 anticipate withdrawing our complaint in the 

16 matter imminently. 

17 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. In the 

18 future, I would like you to include this Court's 

19 orders as part of your regular workload and to 

20 respond to them. 

21 MR. SPITZER: Yes, Your Honor. 

22 

(202) 234-4433 

ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 

Okay. Mr. 

www.nealrgross.com 
7 

1 Bertagnole, the FAA is telling me that there is a 

2 potential for a settlement. And in that type of 

3 situation, the Court will usually grant a 

4 continuance of this particular conference so that 

5 the parties can discuss settlement. If you reach 

6 a settlement, exchange paperwork and then file a 

7 Settlement Notice with the Court. 

8 So typically what I would do, if 

9 that's the case and both parties want a 

10 continuance, I'll set this particular conference 

11 on a date that comfortably allows you and Mr. 

12 Spitzer to confer privately and do all of those 

13 things. 

14 If no settlement is reached, if for 

15 some reason there is a lack of mutual 

16 understanding and you want to have a hearing, 

17 then the conference has already been set and you 

18 both would then appear for that conference after 

19 filing a Rule 26(f) Plan. 

20 So speaking on behalf of your company, 

21 would you be interested in having a continuance 

22 to discuss settlement with your friend across the 

(202) 234·4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
8 

1 aisle? 

2 MR. BERTAGNOLE: I think that would be 

3 fine, Your Honor. We are willing to do that. 

4 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And, 

5 Mr. Spitzer, turning back to you, how much time 

6 would you like to have before the Court sets new 

7 dates for a Rule 26(f) filing and a new 

8 conference? 

9 MR. SPITZER: A week should be 

10 sufficient, Your Honor. 

11 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Well, 

12 I'll probably give you a little bit more than a 

13 week because my calendar is booked up quite a bit 

14 in the next few weeks, so how about if I -- I'm 

15 going to look at my calendar for a minute and see 

16 what I have open. 

17 How about if I give you February 11, 

18 2016 for filing a joint proposed discovery plan 

19 and then the following Thursday would be February 

20 18, 2016 and we could reconvene by telephone at 

21 the same time as today, 1:30 p.m., for a Rule 16 

22 conference. 

(202) 234-4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
9 

1 Mr. Spitzer, looking at your calendar, 

2 would those dates work or should we look at 

3 something else? 

4 MR. SPITZER: Just hang on one second, 

5 Your Honor. 

6 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. 

7 MR. SPITZER: Yes, those dates work, 

8 Your Honor. 

9 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. 

10 Bertagnole, the same question to you, sir. 

11 MR. BERTAGNOLE: Would you please give 

12 me the second date? I've got the 2/11/2016 date 

13 to file Joint Discovery Plan. What was the 

14 second date for the conference itself? 

15 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: What I'm 

16 suggesting and you are welcome to tell me if this 

17 works or not, the following Thursday, which would 

18 be February 18, 2016. 

19 MR. BERTAGNOLE: 18. 

20 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: At 1:30 p.m. 

21 Eastern Time. 

22 MR. BERTAGNOLE: That would be fine. 

(202) 234-4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
10 

1 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. 

2 MR. BERTAGNOLE: We would be acceptable 

3 with both of those dates. 

4 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then 

5 what I will do is I will grant a joint motion 

6 from the parties to continue this Rule 16 

7 Litigation Scheduling Conference and to reset the 

8 due date for filing a joint written discovery 

9 plan and those dates would then be February 11, 

10 2016 and February 18, 2016. 

11 And, Mr. Bertagnole, just so that you 

12 know, filing the unilateral letter as you did in 

13 this last instance was absolutely the correct 

14 thing to do, so I'm presuming that won't even 

15 happen again, but I just would like to let you 

16 know that the Court -- and that was exactly what 

17 others have done in the past when something like 

18 this has happened. 

19 MR. BERTAGNOLE: Okay. 

20 appreciate that, Your Honor. 

21 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: 

22 welcome. Okay. 

(202) 234-4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 

Good. I 

Yes, you're 

www.nealrgross.com 
11 

1 Then, Mr. Spitzer, on behalf of the 

2 FAA, is there anything we need to address for 

3 your client before we close today? 

4 MR. SPITZER: Nothing, Your Honor. 

5 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And, 

6 Mr. Bertagnole, same question for you, sir. 

7 MR. BERTAGNOLE: Nothing at this time. 

8 Thank you. 

9 ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then I 

10 will wish you both good luck in your settlement 

11 discussion. If you do settle, please, let me 

12 know as soon as possible, so that I can take 

13 these matters off the calendar and issue a final 

14 order on the case. 

15 If you don't settle, then I'll look 

16 forward to receiving your materials and meeting 

17 with you again on February 18, 2016. 

18 With that, we can go off the record 

19 and I wish you all a good day. Thank you. 

20 

21 

22 

(202) 234-4433 

MR. SPITZER: Thank you, Your Honor. 

MR. BERTAGNOLE: Thank you. 

ADMIN. JUDGE SULLIVAN: All right. 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
12 

1 Bye-bye. 

2 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 

3 went off the record at 1:45 p.m.) 

4 

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(202) 234-4433 

NEAL R. GROSS 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 
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(202) 234-4433 

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Neal R. Gross and Co., Inc. 

Washington DC 

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82426 2:11 

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www.nealrgross.com 
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C E R T I F I C A T E 

This is to certify that the foregoing transcript 

In the matter of: B&G Industries 

Before: USDOT/FAA 

Date: 02-21-16 

Place: teleconference 

was duly recorded and accurately transcribed under 

my direction; further, that said transcript is a 

true and accurate record of the proceedings. 

Court Reporter 

NEAL R. GROSS 

(202) 234-4433 

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE .• N.W. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com