UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF HEARINGS

IN THE MATTER OF: RENAISSANCE JET, INC. DOCKET NO. FAA-2013-1078 RESPONDENT

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TELECONFERENCE HEARING BEFORE THE HONORABLE J. E. SULLIVAN TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 1:34 P.M. HISTORIC JORDAN SPRINGS 1160 JORDAN SPRINGS ROAD STEPHENSON, VIRGINIA 22656FAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 2

1 APPEARANCES 2 ON BEHALF OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: 3 ZACHARY M. BERMAN, ESQUIRE 4 OFFICE OF THE REGIONAL COUNSEL, EASTERN REGION 5 1 AVIATION PLAZA 6 JAMAICA, NEW YORK 14434 7 TELEPHONE: 718.553.3258 8 FACSIMILE: 718.995.5699 9 EMAIL: ZACHARY.BERMAN@FAA.GOV 10 11 12 ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT, 13 RENAISSANCE JET, INC.: 14 JOHN ADAMS HODGE, ESQUIRE 15 JOHN ADAMS HODGE AND ASSOCIATES, LLC 16 136 STONEMARK LANE, SUITE 110 17 COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA 29210 18 TELEPHONE: 803.783.9001 19 FACSIMILE: 803.783.9210 20 21 22 ALSO PRESENT: 23 CODY L. SMITH 24 SHARON HODGE 25FAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 3

1 INDEX 2 3 4 (NO EXAMINATION) 5 6 7 EXHIBITS 8 Exhibit Page 9 10 (NONE MARKED) 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25FAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 4

1 TELECONFERENCE HEARING 2 TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 3 1:34 P.M. 4 THE COURT: We're on the record in the 5 matter of Renaissance Jet, Inc., docket number FAA6 2013-1078. Today is Tuesday, January 13th, 2015, and 7 the parties have convened by telephone for another 8 pre-hearing status conference. The Federal Aviation 9 Administration, which I'll herein after refer to as 10 the FAA, is represented by its attorney of record, Mr. 11 Zachary M. Berman. The Respondent, Renaissance Jet, 12 Inc., is represented by its attorney, Mr. John Adams 13 Hodge. Also present sitting in as an observer on 14 behalf of the Respondent is Ms. Sharon Hodge. And, 15 Mr. Hodge, is Ms. Hodge an attorney as well? 16 MR. HODGE: Yes, she is. 17 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. In addition, 18 sitting in at the Office of Hearings Courtroom is Mr. 19 Cody L. Smith, an attorney advisor with this office. 20 Good afternoon to you all. Mr. Berman, why don't we 21 start with you and could you tell us what the status 22 update is for this case. 23 MR. BERMAN: Okay. First of all, I'd just 24 like to comment that I hear you as you're talking. I 25 hear some feedback as well in that.FAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 5

1 THE COURT: I do too and I'm wondering if 2 somehow this conference line has been compromised. Is 3 there someone, Mr. Hodge, on your end that's talking 4 or do you have a radio on? 5 MR. HODGE: No, I do not. I did have it on 6 speaker but I took it off speaker. Is that better? 7 THE COURT: That's much better. I don't 8 hear any feedback. Mr. Berman, how about you? 9 MR. BERMAN: That's better. 10 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. Then, Mr. 11 Berman, let's get back to the status report. What's 12 the status of this case? 13 MR. BERMAN: Well, we are negotiating. 14 We're in the process. I don't know if we're going to 15 settle, but we're having some settlement negotiations 16 now and we've made some offers and counteroffers and 17 at this point I'm waiting to hear back from 18 Renaissance Jet, the Respondent, in response to our 19 latest counteroffer. 20 THE COURT: Okay. So what are you 21 suggesting to the Court in terms of scheduling hotels 22 and airline tickets? Tell me what the status is in 23 terms of the Court's travel plans. 24 MR. BERMAN: Well, these settlement, these 25 settlement negotiations, they started about a week agoFAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 6

1 and they've kind of, and so it's kind of picked up 2 over the last week. So there's a good chance that, I 3 get the sense that there's a good chance that we'll 4 know by the end of this week as to whether or not 5 we're going to settle. 6 THE COURT: Okay. 7 MR. BERMAN: So that, I would suggest that 8 holding off on travel plans until after this week, 9 that's my sense. 10 THE COURT: Mr. Hodge, what is your response 11 to the Court's inquiry? Do you agree with Mr. Berman 12 or do you have any, any other answer to offer to the 13 Court? 14 MR. HODGE: Yes, Your Honor. I do think 15 that we're, I do agree with Mr. Berman. I think that 16 we're getting relatively close to an agreeable figure 17 and terms. And the current posture, Mr. Berman made a 18 counteroffer late yesterday. I have forwarded that to 19 my client and I've asked them to respond before I 20 called today but I have not heard from them yet. But I 21 would expect in the next several days if it's going to 22 settle we should know. And I will also say that I 23 think that the parties are close enough that it would 24 be more probable than not that it would settle, but I 25 would agree with Mr. Berman that I would give it toFAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 7

1 the end of the week before making travel plans and 2 expending resources, that sort of thing ... 3 THE COURT: Okay. 4 MR. HODGE: ... for travel and ... 5 THE COURT: Let's talk about something else 6 then. Because essentially, as I hear the parties, you 7 have some, some confidences right now but nothing that 8 is a guarantee. And if that's true and the trial is 9 two weeks away, well, three weeks away, excuse me, 10 then the Court's going to err on the side of caution 11 and make some travel plans so that I don't run into 12 the problem I've had in other cases where I've made 13 travel plans so late I can't stay in the city because 14 of a loss of government rate rooms. So, so I will go 15 ahead and make travel plans to go to Charlotte, North 16 Carolina. If I end up canceling those plans that's 17 better than not having them in place in the event 18 settlement does not work out for the parties in this 19 case. 20 That leads me to the January 9th, 2015, due 21 date for the filing of witness lists and exhibits. I 22 did receive a witness list and exhibit from Mr. 23 Berman. I did not receive that from the Respondent. 24 So, Mr. Hodge, what's your position on that? Is there 25 some material ...FAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 8

1 MR. HODGE: Your Honor, we could, we had 2 served that last Friday and I would imagine it's 3 probably in the postal service's system. And my 4 experience with sending matters to Washington is 5 because of the scanning, the Anthrax scanning and that 6 sort of thing, it does take a little bit longer. I 7 can certainly send you an electronic copy immediately 8 if you would like. 9 THE COURT: We don't have email service 10 here, but I would highly recommend that you fax a copy 11 to us. 12 MR. HODGE: Okay. 13 THE COURT: Yes. So that, just so that you 14 know, if you have other cases before the Court, the 15 filing date is the due date that I should have it in 16 my hand ... 17 MR. HODGE: Okay. 18 THE COURT: ... for the Court. So we 19 typically fax as a way to insure that occurring. If 20 we do not get ... 21 MR. HODGE: All right. I'll make sure 22 that's ... 23 THE COURT: Yeah. 24 MR. HODGE: Go ahead. I'm sorry. 25 THE COURT: That would be, that would beFAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 9

1 great. 2 MR. HODGE: Okay. 3 THE COURT: And then in terms of the 4 settlement negotiations, I'm going to turn back to 5 you, Mr. Berman. You were saying that you thought you 6 might know something by the end of this week. What 7 I'll do is I'll ask you to be sure to let my office 8 know as soon as you know so that if travel plans need 9 to be canceled we can cancel them. Would that be 10 acceptable? 11 MR. BERMAN: Yes. 12 THE COURT: Okay. And then I will ask the 13 parties, do you want me to setup one last conference 14 time? Do you need that or are you feeling fairly 15 confident that you'll be able to resolve the rest of 16 these matters without Court, the Court's attention? 17 Mr. Berman, starting with you. 18 MR. BERMAN: Well, I'm not totally sure 19 we're going to settle. Now, the, I'm fine with not 20 having a conference. I'm just not, well, before I 21 answer the question, what would be in your view, 22 Judge, the purpose of a conference if we don't settle? 23 THE COURT: Well, one of the advantages to 24 the Court is knowing what's going on so that I don't 25 travel somewhere and then end up having people come toFAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 10

1 the courthouse and saying that they've settled. 2 MR. BERMAN: I don't think there's any need 3 for any further conferences. 4 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Hodge, what's your 5 position on that? 6 MR. HODGE: I would tend to agree that there 7 probably is not a need for another conference. And I 8 do think if we can resolve this we could certainly let 9 your office know as soon as possible. 10 THE COURT: Okay. That sounds great. Mr. 11 Berman, going back to you, is there anything else that 12 we need to address for your client today before we 13 close? 14 MR. BERMAN: Yes. I'd just appreciate it if 15 Mr. Hodge could fax me what he's faxing to you. 16 THE COURT: Of course. Mr. Hodge ... 17 MR. HODGE: Okay. 18 THE COURT: ... I'll ask you to do that. 19 That should be contemporaneous obviously. Mr. Hodge, 20 anything that you would like to address on behalf of 21 your client before we close? 22 MR. HODGE: Nothing particular, although I 23 would like to also state that I did send Mr. Berman 24 via the mail as well the package. So it was, they 25 were both served last Friday but I'll go ahead andFAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 11

1 make sure that gets faxed at the same time. 2 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you very much. In 3 the event that there is no settlement and I, then I 4 will look forward to meeting you both at the 5 courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 6 3rd, 2015, at 9:00 A.M. 7 I'll just remind you, and I'm sure you both 8 know this, that nowadays it takes a little while to 9 get through the courthouse, so please make sure you 10 allow for time for getting through security. We do 11 not have any particular instructions from the 12 courthouse personnel about not allowing telephones or 13 equipment in, so in fact laptop computers and phones 14 should be permitted. If you have any trouble with 15 that, please ask the security guards to give me a call 16 and I'd be happy to come back down from the courtroom 17 and assist to make sure that you get through with all 18 the material and tools that you need. 19 With that, it appears our business is 20 complete. I wish you good luck in your settlement 21 negotiations. We can go off the record and I wish you 22 all a good day and a Happy New Year. 23 MR. BERMAN: Thank you. 24 THE COURT: Thank you. 25 MR. HODGE: Thank you, Your Honor.FAA vs Renaiss ance J et, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 12

1 THE COURT: Al l right. Bye-bye. 2 (WHE REUPON, the Teleconference was concluded at 1:44 3 P.M. ) 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 

## VETERAN REPORTERS 

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**Sara E. Duncan** 19th January 2015FAA vs Renaissance Jet, Inc. January 13, 2015 VR # 1064-3 Page 15

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