IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 

NORTHERN DIVISION 

FARMERS TELECOMMUNICATIONS ) 

COOPERATIVE, INC., ) 

) 

 Plaintiff, ) 

 ) 

v. ) CIVIL ACTION NO. 2:06-cv-00790-WC 

 ) 

VERIZON BUSINESS NETWORK ) 

SERVICES INC. and QWEST ) 

COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, ) 

) 

Defendants. ) 

PROPOSED DISCOVERY PLAN

COME NOW Plaintiff Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. (“Farmers”) and 

Defendants Verizon Business Network Services Inc. (“Verizon Business”) and Qwest 

Communications Corporation (“QCC”) and provide the following report of the parties’ planning 

meeting required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f). 

Rule 26(f) Conference

 The parties conferred by telephone on Friday, January 5, 2007. Participating on behalf of 

Farmers were Mark D. Wilkerson, Dana H. Billingsley, and Jonathan M. Hooks. Participating 

on behalf of Verizon Business were Bryan O. Balogh, Scott H. Angstreich, and James J. 

Williams. Participating on behalf of QCC was Leigh Anne Hodge. 

Initial Disclosures 

 As set forth in a notice of joint stipulation filed with the Court on December 15, 2006, the 

parties have agreed that the disclosures required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) must be made by 

February 15, 2007. At this time the parties contemplate no additional changes in the timing, 

form, or requirement for such initial disclosures. Under the aforementioned joint stipulation, 

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February 15, 2007 will serve not only as the deadline for initial disclosures, but also for 

commencement of discovery. 

Discovery – Subjects, Completion, and Method

Discovery will be conducted on any allegation or defense raised in any pleading. The 

parties agree that all discovery relating to this action will be completed within six (9) months of 

commencement, or by November 15, 2007. 

Issues Relating to the Disclosure or Discovery of Electronically-Stored Information

 Because all parties are engaged in various operations within the telecommunications 

industry, their internal systems store, process, and utilize a large volume of highly-technical data. 

The ever-increasing need for capacity of a size sufficient to store this information in a readilyretrievable location results in frequent deletion or archiving of old data such that as data “ages,” 

it becomes incrementally more difficult to retrieve in a cost-efficient manner. The federal rules 

acknowledge such a situation in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2). Nevertheless, all parties have agreed to 

use their best efforts to ensure that all data concerning the facts at issue is preserved, and 

preserved in a format that will be useable by any party which has a need for such data. 

Issues Relating to Claims of Privilege, Work-Product Protections, etc. 

The parties foresee nothing extraordinary concerning privilege or work-product claims. 

To the degree that such issues arise, the parties agree that the procedures and guidelines 

established by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are adequate to resolve any such problems. 

Changes to Limitations on Discovery

The parties agree that the limitations imposed on discovery by the federal rules and any 

applicable rules governing practice in the Middle District of Alabama are sufficient to guide the 

parties. Where the rules do not impose such limitations, and because certain prescribed 

Case 2:06-cv-00790-WC Document 15 Filed 01/12/2007 Page 2 of 5
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limitations may be altered by motion to the Court, the parties have agreed that in the absence of a 

stipulation to the contrary, the following limitations shall govern: 

Interrogatories - Maximum of 25 interrogatories by each party to any other 

party. 

Depositions - Maximum of 10 depositions by each party. 

Requests for Admission - Maximum of 25 requests for admission by each 

party to any party. 

Requests for Production – Maximum of 25 Requests for Production by each 

party to any party. 

Reports from retained experts under Rule 26(a)(2) due from: 

- Farmers: by June 1, 2007. 

- Defendants: by July 16, 2007. 

Depositions of retained experts – Each party shall make its expert(s) available for 

deposition no later than thirty (30) days after the expert’s report has been submitted. 

Supplementations under Rule 26(e) – The parties shall supplement their disclosures and 

other responses to requests for discovery no later than two months after the disclosure 

was made (or supplemented) or the response was provided (or supplemented). In any 

event, however, the parties shall make any necessary final supplementations on or before 

November15, 2007. 

Other Items 

The parties do not request a conference with the Court before entry of the scheduling 

order. 

Amendments to the pleadings will be governed by Fed. R. Civ. P. 15. In any event, 

however, Farmers shall be allowed until July 1, 2007 to join additional parties and amend 

pleadings. Defendants shall be allowed until July 25, 2007 to join additional parties and amend 

their pleadings. 

All potentially dispositive motions shall be filed no later than October 31, 2007. 

Settlement cannot be realistically evaluated prior to April 1, 2007. 

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The parties request a final pretrial conference in December 2007. 

Final lists of trial evidence (witnesses and exhibits) under Rule 26(a)(3) should be due 

from all parties by 30 days before trial. 

Parties should have 10 days after service of final lists of trial evidence to list objections 

under Rule 26(a)(3). 

The case should be ready for trial by January 2008, and at this time is expected to take 

approximately 3 days. 

Respectfully submitted, this 12th day of January, 2007. 

s/s Jonathan M. Hooks 

 MARK D. WILKERSON (WIL072) 

DANA H. BILLINGSLEY (BIL012) 

JONATHAN M. HOOKS (HOO032) 

PATRICK H. TATE (TAT006) 

Attorneys for Plaintiff Farmers 

Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. 

OF COUNSEL: 

WILKERSON & BRYAN, P.C. 

P.O. Box 830 

405 South Hull Street 

Montgomery, Alabama 36101-0830 

(205) 265-1500 

(334) 265-0319 – fax

mark@wilkersonbryan.com

dana@wilkersonbryan.com

jonathan@wilkersonbryan.com

OF COUNSEL: 

P.O. Box 680593 

Fort Payne, AL 35968 

256-845-1047 

256-845-1094 – fax

phtate@farmerstel.com

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/s/ Bryan O. Balogh 

BRYAN O. BALOGH (BAL026) 

Attorney for Defendant Verizon Business 

Network Services Inc. 

OF COUNSEL: 

STARNES & ATCHISON 

P.O. Box 598512 

Birmingham, AL 35259-8512 

205-868-6000 

205-868-6099 - fax 

bob@starneslaw.com

/s/ Leigh Anne Hodge 

LEIGH ANNE HODGE (ASB-1008-E49L) 

Attorney for Defendant Qwest 

Communications Corporation

OF COUNSEL: 

BALCH & BINGHAM, LLP 

1710 Sixth Avenue North 

Birmingham, Alabama 35203-2015 

(205) 226-8724 

(205) 488-5698 - fax 

lhodge@balch.com

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