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# ORIGINAL

In the Matter of AIRBORNE MAINTENANCE AND ENGINEERING SERVICES FDMS No. FAA 2013-029

8 The Telephonic scheduling conference before 9 HONORABLE J.E. SULLIVAN, was taken on Thursday, 10 November 7, 2013, commencing at 11:00 a.m., at the 11 offices of For The Record, 10760 Demarr Road, White 12 Plains, Maryland, before Monica Voorhees, Notary 13 Public. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25SchedulingConference Airborne MaintenanceandEngineeringServices

1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 3 ON BEHALF OF THE COMPLAINANT: 2
11/7/2013

4 5 6 CHRISTOPHER R. STEVENSON, ESQ. (Via Telephone)

7 8 9 10 11 12 Office of Regional Counsel Southern Region Federal Aviation Administration P.O. Box 20636 Atlanta, Georgia 30320 (404) 305-5200

13 ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT: 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ROBERT P. SILVERBERG, ESQ. (Via Telephone) JEFF JOHNSON, ESQ. (Via Telephone) Silverberg, Goldman &Bikoff, LLP Georgetown Place Suite 120 1101 30th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20007 (202) 944-3300

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A P P E A R A N C E S HONORABLE J.E. SULLIVAN (Via Telephone) U.S. Administrative Law Judge Office of Hearings, M-20 U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New JerseyAvenue, S.E. (Ell-310) Washington, D.C. 20590 (202) 366-2132

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1 2 3 P R0 C E E D I N GS

HONORABLE SULLIVAN: We're on the record in 4 the matter of Airborne Maintenance and Engineering 5 Services. This is docket number FAA-2013-0291. 6 Today is Thursday, November 7, 2013, and the 7 parties have convened for a second litigation 8 scheduling conference. 9 Present on behalf of the FAA is 10 Mr. Christopher R. Stevenson, the attorney of record. 11 Present on behalf of the Respondent is 12 Mr. Robert P. Silverberg, the attorney of record, and 13 his associate, Jeff, Mr. Jeff Johnson. 14 15 16 Just goodmorning to you all. MR. STEVENSON: Goodmorning, Your Honor. HONORABLE SULLIVAN: As youmay recall, we 17 had a conference on September 24, 2013. At that time 18 itwas agreed by the parties to continue the matter to 19 today's date and time and on September 24, 2013, an 20 Order granting continuance and other relief was filed. 21 Since then, on November 4, 2013, the parties 22 have filed a joint supplemental Rule 26(f) 23 scheduling/discoveryplan. I've had a chance to 24 review that plan and I suspect that this conference 25 todaywill be fairly short.

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1 However, before we jump in to business, I 2 would say congratulations are in order, if I recall, 3 Mr. Stevenson; are you not a newly-proud parent? 4 MR. STEVENSON: That is correct, Your Honor. 5 Thank you verymuch. My daughter Sophia was born on 6 September 22nd. 7 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Well congratulations 8 and I hope you're getting enough sleep at night. 9 MR. STEVENSON: I'll accept your 10 congratulations, but youmay be disappointed on the 11 amount of sleep I'm getting. 12 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Well sometimes that 13 will happen, I'm sure. 14 Let's talkthen about the proposed schedule 15 and I'm going to take a minute to pull up the material 16 I prepared for today. Okay. 17 It looks like you have agreed to have all 18 initial disclosures exchanged on orbefore January 14, 19 2014, and I have no problems with adopting that. 20 There's also a proposed January 28th, 2014, 21 start date for general discovery. I did have a quick 22 question about that. Is there any reason that you 23 wouldn't want it to start a little sooner since you 24 have an extendedperiod for initial disclosure? Is 25 there some reason why you wouldn't want to start the

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1 general discovery a week earlier, on January 21, 2014? 2 3 And I'll start with you, Mr. Stevenson. MR. STEVENSON: I think I, I believe that 4 this was based on some of the ones I had originally 5 submitted and the reason I had it is 6 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Mr. Stevenson, I'mnot 7 hearing anything. Do we still have you on the line? 8 Yeah, we're not hearingmuch from you, 9 Mr. Stevenson. Are you on a speaker phone by any 10 chance? Could you switch to a handset. 11 MR. STEVENSON: I was on a speaker phone. 12 Is this any better? There's a lot of static inmy 13 line. 14 15 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Yes, much, much better. MR. STEVENSON: Okay, I apologize. I'll 16 start over again. 17 The two-week periodwas based on my original 18 schedule that I had submittedwhich is based on some 19 schedules that we've done in other cases and the 20 reason it was set at two weeks is because that second 21 deadline is phrased as -- sorry, the second date is 22 phrased as a deadline for getting out the initial 23 discovery requests and that gives each side the chance 24 to review the initial disclosures that the other side 25 has given thembefore writing those discovery

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1 requests. 2 So that, I'm not married to that two-week 3 period, but that was the reason for it. 4 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. I just, I just 5 had, I just was curious because there's a long period 6 between now and the initial disclosures which would 7 allow the parties presumptively some time to review 8 the initial disclosures. 9 So letme turn to you, Mr. Silverberg, is 10 there any particular reason that you would need to 11 have that additional secondweek in January? 12 MR. SILVERBERG: Your Honor. Can you hear 13 me all right? 14 15 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Yes, thank you. MR. SILVERBERG: Well I would concur with 16 FAA counsel to the degree that experience tells us 17 that a proper response to initial disclosures will 18 often provide insight into the manner in which written 19 discovery can then be framed and having essentially a 20 two-week interval for that purpose is, is to me 21 reasonable and considering the balance of the schedule 22 does not appear inmy judgment anyway to unduly delay 23 this litigation. 24 HONORF,BLE SULLIVAN: No, and I'mnot 25 suggesting that it does. I'mjust noting that

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1 typically initial disclosures are, are usually done 2 much sooner and it seems that there's a long period of 3 time between now and the due date for providing 4 MR. SILVERBERG: Well if I can answer that, 5 Your Honor. 6 7 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Yes. MR. SILVERBERG: Do recall, if you would, 8 that I'minvolved in this litigationwhich is now 9 scheduled for trial and was when we spoke last 10 December 17th, so the, the concept of pushing off the 11 kick-off of the case for early Januarywas to 12 accommodate the fact that it is a possibility that 13 we'll be in trial essentially right up through the 14 holidayperiod and I'm anticipating that trial will 15 end or will get some resolution through summary 16 judgmentmotions, which are being filed. And so I 17 reallywon't have a chance to turn to this case in a 18 major way until the end of that Federal District Court 19 litigation. 20 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. That's helpful, 21 because I do recall that conversation on September 24, 22 2013, but at that point you were looking at 23 potentiallyhaving summaryjudgment resolution and it 24 sounds like that's stillpending? 25 MR. SILVERBERG: Well we're on the, we're on

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1 the cusp of filing the third round replies to the 2 opposition, that will be this comingMonday, actually, 3 the Federal holiday. 4 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Oh. 5 MR. SILVERBERG: So we're not anticipating 6 knowing for sure how the judgemight rule on those 7 cross motions, so it will be sometime later in 8 November. 9 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. All right. Then 10 I'mhappy to adopt the January 28, 2014, proposal for 11 the general discovery start date. 12 My next question is you have a period of 13 time betweenMarch 11, 2014, and April 29, 2014, to 14 take depositions and I don't have a problemwith that 15 either. 16 My question is do you want me to schedule 17 any kind of deadline for initial expert disclosures 18 and expert rebuttal disclosures between the dates of 19 January 28, 2014, and, say, March 11, 2014, or are you 20 comfortable just figuring that out informallybetween 21 yourself? 22 Starting with you, Mr. Stevenson. 23 MR. STEVENSON: At first blush, I suppose it 24 wouldbe helpful to have it set as a deadline for 25 when, probably around the same time as when the

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1 deposition period opens because that would, could then 2 help us either avoid depositions or know who we need 3 to depose better. 4 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Well ideally you would 5 have it prior to your deposition periodbecause you 6 want to schedule your depositions before March 11, 7 2014, I would say. March 11 through, or March 11, 8 2014, throughApril 29, 2014, as I understand it, is 9 the period of time when you're actually taking the 10 depositions, or am I misreading your proposal? 11 MR. STEVENSON: No, that's correct, Your 12 Honor. 13 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. So letme turn 14 to you, Mr. Silverberg, do you concur with 15 Mr. Stevenson that you would like to have some kind of 16 deadline for initial expert disclosures and expert 17 rebuttal disclosures prior to March 11, 2014? 18 MR. SILVERBERG: Well my experience is that 19 the expert disclosures are most useful when they come 20 after the period that depositions are taken because 21 the expert may well want to review deposition 22 transcripts of the fact witnesses in order to base 23 their opinions, and so I don't want to get the cart 24 before the horse. 25 I don't mind having expert disclosure,

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1 initial disclosure deadlines, but I think we would all 2 benefit by having the deposition period fairly well 3 along before we would expect to hear and see expert 4 disclosures and rebuttals. 5 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: How would you take your 6 expert deposition if you don't have that information 7 before the deadline for the deposition to have been 8 taken? 9 MR. SILVERBERG: Well I would, I guess what 10 I'm trying to say is that if there is a deadline, that 11 it shouldn't, it should accommodate the fact that, you 12 know, fact witness depositions will have alreadybeen 13 taken and the expert would then have the benefit of 14 that record based on which tobase opinions, in 15 addition to the written documents that will be 16 exchanged. 17 And so observing the deadline for general 18 discovery, I wouldpropose to, if Your Honor feels it 19 necessary, and I don't have a problemwith it one way 20 or the other, and would be to set a deadline for 21 initial expert disclosures sometime prior to the close 22 of general discoverybut not, not so soon after 23 discovery opens that it, it precludes reliance on the 24 deposition transcripts. 25 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Well what would you

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1 suggest based on your proposed discovery plan? 2 3 MR. SILVERBERG: Well letme see if I have a 2014 calendar here. I think I do. 4 So looking at April 29th as -- perhaps 5 April 16th we would, eitherparty wouldprovide their 6 initial expert disclosure, that would give a week and 7 a half or so, two weeks to notice up the deposition 8 for the expert. 9 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Mr. Stevenson, what's 10 your thought about that? 11 MR. STEVENSON: Well the problemwith that 12 particular deadline is that at least at the moment I 13 have the Liberty Foundation hearing scheduled in front 14 of Your Honor almost the entire week of the 21st, 15 whichmeant that if the deadline for the expert 16 disclosures was the 16th, as a practical matter for me 17 I wouldbe unlikely to actuallybe able to defend or 18 take a depositionbefore the close of general 19 discovery. 20 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Well what would you 21 propose in the alternative? Mr. Stevenson? 22 MR. STEVENSON: Well looking at the 23 discoveryplan and the calendar, we have the opening 24 of the deposition period on the 11th and I would think 25 that we should at least be able to get the, I mean if

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1 we want to segment the depositions up into two 2 sections, and I don't think that the first section 3 shouldbe longer than three or four weeks, so I would 

### 4 suggest puttingthe, that deadline for the expert 5 disclosures no later than the 9th of April, possibly 6 earlier. 7 I mean it, which we shouldbe able to 8 conduct the depositions during the week of the 14th, 9 but of course I don't know what the schedule of a 10 potential expert identifiedby the complainant would 11 be, but as long as they were available in that next 12 week, I would be able to do it. 13 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Thank you. 14 Mr. Silverberg, would April 2nd, April 4th 15 work for you as a compromise for initial expert 16 disclosures within the deposition period? 17 MR. SILVERBERG: The uncertainty that I have 18 inmy mind, Your Honor, is the potential for getting 19 the fact witness depositions done in time to allow the 20 expert to have the benefit of the deposition 21 transcripts. And that, you know, in effect, that 22 takes the deposition period and almost closes it all 23 but for expert disclosures prior to the, what did you 24 say, April 4th, Your Honor? 25 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Why don't we do this,

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1 different people do it differently, so I've had, I 2 have lots of different ways that different litigants 3 like to do this, but it sounds to me that you both 4 would like to have expert disclosures at the 5 conclusion of your fact witness deposition period and 6 so it might work better, let's see, and I'm looking at 7 my April calendar for trial, itmay work out better on 8 a practical basis to run your, your deposition period 9 fromMarch 11 to April 18, 2014, to take fact witness 10 depositions, to have your initial expert disclosures, 11 let's see, I'm looking at my calendar as I'm talking, 12 give me a minute, folks, as I look throughmy 13 calendar. Let's see. And I'm doing some cutting and 14 15 pasting, so. Okay. Okay. I'm trying to consider the 16 Memorial Day holiday as I do this. 17 How about this, how about if you take your, 18 your fact witness depositions betweenMarch 11, 2014, 19 andApril 18, 2014, and your initial expert 20 disclosures on orbefore May 2nd, 20

-- sorry, yes, 21 May 2nd, 2014, have your expert disclosures on or 22 before May 28th, 2013, and then have June 6th, 2014 23 May 28, 2014, excuse me. June 6, 2014, as your last 24 deadline for completing general discovery and then 25 have your June 24, 2014, deadlines for filing

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### 1 dispositivemotions remains the same. 2 Would that work or do we still need to tweak 3 a little bit? 4 

### MR. SILVERBERG: Your Honor, could you, the 5 initial expert disclosures would be May 2nd, correct? 6 

### HONORABLE SULLIVAN: I'mlooking at May 2nd, 7 but that's just a toss-out date. 8 If you see something that wouldmake it 9 

### better to have, say, April 25th, that makes sense to 10 me, too, so what, what's your thought about that? 11 MR. SILVERBERG: Well I'm looking at the 12 calendar, then you had, you threw out a May 13th date? 13 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Yeah, I'mlooking at 14 May, I was originally saying. I'lljust repeat all of 15 this. 16 Let's assume that you have a March 11, 2014, 17 throughApril 18, 2014, period of time for taking your 18 fact witness depositions. 19 You then disclose experts on or before 20 May 2nd, 2014, or evenApril 25th, 2014. And then 21 within about two weeks after that disclosure, your 22 expert rebuttal disclosures, so you couldhave experts 23 disclosedbyMay 9, 2014, if you adopt anApril 25, 24 2014, initial expert disclosure deadline, and then 25 have May 30, 2014, or up to June 6, 2014, for

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1 completing all general discovery, which would allow 2 you a littlebit of a window to take expert 3 depositions if needed. 4 That would put you stillback on track for 5 your June 24, 2014, dispositive motion deadline. 6 So, Mr. Stevenson, startingwith you, letme 7 ask you what your preference is or if that works or if 8 it doesn't work, what you would recommend. 9 MR. STEVENSON: The original set of dates 10 does work for me. I wouldbe concerned if we switched 11 to the earlier set of dates that usedApril 25th as 12 the expert disclosure. 13 14 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. MR. STEVENSON: I think closing, ifwe close 15 normal, ifwe actuallyuse that whole deposition 16 periodthat ends on the 18th, that wouldmake it 17 difficult to get transcripts for the experts to review 18 in time and that's the week that I currentlyhave that 19 Liberty Foundationhearing scheduled, so I would have 20 a difficult time coordinating that and getting those 21 to an expert during that week. 22 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. So you're 23 talking about having the March 11, 2014, through 24 April 18, 2014, period for fact witness depositions 25 and thenMay 2nd, 2014, for initial expert

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1 disclosures, with a May 28th, 2014, deadline for 2 expert rebuttal disclosures and then a June 6, 2014, 3 deadline for completing discovery? MR. STEVENSON: Well I may have misheard a 4 5 date in there. I think you just saidMay 28th as a 6 deadline for expert rebuttals and I, which would 7 give

-- and the second deadline for the initial 8 experts, that seems like a lengthy period of time for 9 expert rebuttal and not a lot of time for possible 10 depositions, so I don't know ifmaybe that, I was 11 thinking that May 28th was, I thought you had said 12 something like the 16th earlier, so I was thinking 13 something like May 16th. 14 15 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. MR. STEVENSON: Not that I need that 16 particular date, but the 28th seems late. 17 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. That makes sense 18 tome. 19 Mr. Silverberg, what's your response to 20 that? MR. SILVERBERG: I think we could, we can 21 22 workwith that schedule, Your Honor. I thought you 23 initially threw out May 13th for the expert rebuttal, 24 but the 16th is a Friday, that works as well, and then 25 we have fromMay 16thto June 6th to take any expert

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1 depositions that might be necessary. 2 3 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. MR. SILVERBERG: So I think that's a very 4 workable schedule for us. 5 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. So just to 6 repeat, May 2nd, 2014, the deadline for initial expert 7 disclosures. May 16th, 2014, deadline for expert 8 rebuttal disclosures. And then June 6, 2014, the 9 deadline for completing general discovery. 10 Does that work, Mr. Stevenson? 11 12 13 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor. HONORABLE SULLIVAN: And, Mr. Silverberg? MR. SILVERBERG: I'm sorry, you saidMay 2 14 for initial disclosures? 15 16 17 Honor. 18 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Correct. MR. SILVERBERG: Okay. Yes, yes, Your

HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then let's pick 19 backup with your Rule 26(f) schedule/discoveryplan. 20 I'mhappy to adopt the June 24, 2014, 21 deadline for filing dispositive motions. 22 You had in your proposal a July 8, 2014, 23 deadline for filing the answer. My only concern with 24 that is that that is right after the July 4th holiday, 25 so the person or the partywho is going to file the

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1 answer loses a little bit of time, in fact, if you had 2 any desire to celebrate that holiday. 3 4 5 6 So I wanted to check in with you both to see if you wanted to tweak that a little bit. If you don't, that's fine. If you're not July 4th holiday celebrants, that's fine. If you do, we can tweak both 7 the answer due date and the reply due date one week 8 and I thinkwithout any harmto anyone, depending on 9 your schedules. 10 Mr. Stevenson, what's your thought about 11 that? MR. STEVENSON: I would be okay with pushing 12 13 those back a week. I wouldbe okay with not pushing 14 themback a week, so, either way. 15 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Mr. Silverberg, what 16 about you? 17 MR. SILVERBERG: I would endorse your 18 proposal, Your Honor, I think that makes practical 19 sense for the parties. 20 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Let's say 21 instead of July 8, 2014, July 15, 2014, for the 22 deadline for filing an answer to dispositivemotions 23 and July 29, 2014, for filing a reply. That gives us 24 time inAugust for a summaryjudgment telephone 25 conference and I'm going to start with you,

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1 Mr. Silver I'm sorry, Mr. Stevenson, do you have a 2 preference in terms of August for any particular week, 3 do you have black-out dates inAugust that youwant to 4 alertme to? 5 6 MR. STEVENSON: I'm sorry, I'mdouble checkingmy schedule as I do have something. In 7 August, I will be unavailable fromAugust 13ththrough 8 August 19th, give or take. 9 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Available or not 10 available? 11 MR. STEVENSON: I will be not available

-- 12 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. 13 MR. STEVENSON: during that time period, 14 but the rest ofmy August is clear. 15 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Silverberg, 16 how about you? 17 18 19 20 MR. SILVERBERG: I'm an August vacationer. HONORABLE SULLIVAN: As manypeople are. MR. SILVERBERG: It's hard for me to know for sure what my dates will be inAugust. I have to 21 coordinate that with, withmy, with my children and 22 their children andmy wife, so I don't know what my 23 August schedule will look like for sure right now, but 24 I can say in general that I can work around, you know, 25 your schedule if necessary.

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1 Are you anticipating hearing argument on 2 the, assuming there are cross motions, on, in this 3 August, on this August date you're looking for? 4 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Yes. I usually 5 schedule a one to one-and-a-half-hour telephone 6 conference after summaryjudgmentmotions or those 7 dispositive types ofmotions are filed because 8 invariably I have lots of questions and I find oral 9 arguments very, very helpful. 10 MR. SILVERBERG: Understood, Your Honor, 11 and, you know, I'mhere inWashington, D.C., and it 12 would seem that a matter such as a hearing on a 13 summary judgment motion would be something that would 14 be better done in person. 15 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Well I love seeing the 16 parties, but typicallymost people who appear before 17 me are not inWashington, D.C., and so we usually do 18 these bytelephone conference and it's been quite 19 successful. 20 So we used to have a hearing room associated 21 with our offices and we lost that recently. 22 23 MR. SILVERBERG: Oh, no. HONORABLE SULLIVAN: So in order for me to 24 hold an in-person motion conference, I would have to 25 find an open courtroom somewhere in D.C., which

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1 amazingly you would thinkwould be quite easy, but it 2 is actually fairly difficult, so. 3 MR. SILVERBERG: Our litigious society, I'm 4 afraid. 5 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: So these are typically 6 done by telephone and, and I've found them to be 7 successful that way. 8 MR. SILVERBERG: I would then say that I, I 9 couldprobably anticipate being out the 13ththrough 10 the 19th as well inAugust, but ifwe're going to do 11 this by telephone, I will just, you know, I will slip 12 this intomy schedule, but I do typically, a fairly 13 significant chunk ofAugust head to theAtlantic 14 ocean. 15 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Let me ask you this, 16 Mr. Silverberg, in years past, do you wrap in the 17 Memorial Day holiday as part of your vacation plan, 18 would itbe better for us to look at the 1st ofAugust 19 as opposed to the last ofAugust or does it matter? 20 MR. SILVERBERG: It may not matter. I think 21 typically we try to leave at the first part ofAugust, 22 but as I say, it's, it's coordinated withmy grown 23 children and their children andmy wife, so it's, at 24 this point we haven't gone through the coordination 25 process yet.

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1 But as I say, if it's going to be by 2 telephone, you know, availabilitywhere I'll be is not 3 as critical. 4 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. 5 MR. SILVERBERG: But I would typically, I 6 guess if I were to make a general statement, we 7 typically go in earlyAugust and then we come back 8 sometime before the end of the, before Labor

-- we 9 come backbefore the Labor Day holiday and then we go 10 back again for the Labor Day holiday. 11 12 So if there's a, letme just look at August. More likelythan not we wouldbe back in 13 Washington the week of the 25th ofAugust. Let me see 14 if, when is the holiday? I don't have that on this 15 calendar, do you happen to know, Your Honor, when 16 the

-- 17 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: I think the September 18 calendar shows Monday, September 1, as the Federal 19 Labor Day holiday. 20 So if we talked about perhaps Tuesday, 21 August 26, 2014, that might be a good date? 22 MR. SILVERBERG: That might work, yes, Your 23 Honor. 24 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Why don't we 25 plan for August 26, 2014, and since we're talking

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1 about a telephone conference, let's saybetween 1:30 2 and 3 p.m. on that date, and if for some reason, and 3 many people do andmany people don't file motions, but 4 if for some reason no motion is filed, then we'll 5 still hold the telephone conference and it will 6 automatically convert to a pre-hearing status 7 conference if no motions are filed and that way I'll 8 have a chance to talk to you all about what the status 9 is of the case, if the issues have been narrowed, if 10 you want to retain the same amount oftime for trial 11 and so forth. 12 So August 26, 2014, from 1:30 to 3, please 13 reserve on your calendars. 14 And then let's talk about the October 7 15 through October 9 hearing date. Those are actually 16 open for me, so I'mhappy to adopt them and as I 17 understand it from the September 24, 2013, colloquy 18 that I had with the parties, this is a case that will 19 be heard in Orlando, Florida. 20 Mr. Stevenson, is that your understanding? 21 MR. STEVENSON: That was my understanding as 22 well, Your Honor. 23 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. And, 24 Mr. Silverberg? 25 MR. SILVERBERG: Yes, Your Honor.

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1 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. So prior to 2 October 7, 2014, when would you like to exchange your 3 list of witnesses and exhibits? 4 5 Mr. Stevenson? MR. STEVENSON: I, off the top ofmy head, I 6 would usually think three weeks before that and I 7 think, if I understand the, Your Honor's, if I recall 8 Your Honor's usual time frames correctly, I believe 9 that would give you enough time to write a decision on 10 the summary judgment motions if they are filed. 11 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Silverberg, 12 is that acceptable, around September 16? 13 14 MR. SILVERBERG: Yes, Your Honor. HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Let's say September, 15 just to be on the safe side, let's say September 19 so 16 that we keep using our Fridays, September 19, 2014, an 17 exchange of witness list and exhibits for the parties 18 and I'm going to ask you to also file any written 19 stipulations if you have them that same day. That 20 doesn't preclude you from coming to the Court on the 21 day of trial andproposing stipulations or even making 22 general motions in limine, but it's always helpful for 23 me to have a heads-up if you've come to some agreement 24 to make it easier for me to prep ahead of time. 25 So for the October 7, 2014, through

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1 October 9, 2014, trial time, typically I start at 9, I 2 end at 5. I have a one hour and 15minute lunch break 3 usually from 12 to 1:15, unless the parties have a 4 different preference and then I always take a short 5 break in the morning and a short break in the 6 afternoon. So you can count on that. If we get done 7 a little early, great; ifwe don't, we're all in 8 trouble, obviously. 9 So hopefully the three-day period of time is 10 a comfortable time period and I just want to check in 11 with you before we close that particular calendering, 12 Mr. Stevenson, is there any particular need that you 13 can think of right now where we might need to reserve 14 a fourth day or is three days a comfortable margin for 15 you? 16 MR. STEVENSON: The only reason I could 17 think of why we would not be able to do it in three 18 days is if the parties ended up calling as witnesses a 19 variety of mechanics who worked on repairing these 20 aircrafts after the issues in the complaint are 21 discovered, but I don't have any way of knowing at 22 this point in time if that would come up or if 23 there's, if it was, that their testimonywould take a 24 long time, but that's the only reason that I can think 25 of that we would needmore than three days.

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1 2 3 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Silverberg, how about you? MR. SILVERBERG: Well, Your Honor, the, 4 there is no questionbut that there were a number of 5 mechanics that looked at the three aircraft that are 6 involved in this matter. I don't know how many 7 offhand I'm talking about, frankly, but there were 8 several with shift changes and the number of days 9 involved. We would obviously have somebody to testify 10 about the maintenance records and what they portray. 11 Whether we have to go down to the mechanic 12 level andwhat the mechanics memorywouldbe of 13 particular work scope that he may have accomplished, I 14 just can't say at this point. I thinkwe'll probably 15 have a better feel for that once we get some discovery 16 going. 17 My hope wouldbe we would not have to have a 18 parade of mechanics, but itmay be necessary. 19 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Let me ask you 20 both then this, startingwith you, Mr. Stevenson, can 21 you reserve an extra day on your calendar now just in 22 case we need it later? 23 MR. STEVENSON: I can, Your Honor. 24 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Yeah. Would itmake 25 sense to reserve Friday, the end of the week?

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1 MR. STEVENSON: Well I guess always better 2 to reserve toomany days than not enough. 3 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Yeah. 4 MR. STEVENSON: So I, I

-- 5 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: I'm sorry, sir, go 6 ahead. 7 MR. STEVENSON: I was saying, Judge, there's 8 no problem onmy end reserving the whole 6th through 9 the lOth. 10 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Well let's, 11 let's just plan on October 7th through October 10, 12 which wouldbe Tuesday through Friday. 13 Mr. Silverberg, is that acceptable in your 14 calendar for now as well? 15 16 17 MR. SILVERBERG: Yes, it is, Your Honor. HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. MR. SILVERBERG: I, can I raise an issue 18 that you mentioned earlier? 19 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Sure. 20 MR. SILVERBERG: You had, you spoke of 21 motions in limine couldbe presented at the time of 22 the commencement of the hearing, I would like to 23 suggest that if the parties are going to file such 24 motions that they file them in advance so there be an 25 opportunity for replies and I would suggest that the

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1 date for the witness list and exhibits wouldbe a good 2 deadline for the filing ofmotions in limine. 3 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Mr. Stevenson, do you 4 have any objection to that? 5 MR. STEVENSON: The onlypotential issue I 6 see with that is that it may not be until a party sees 7 the other side's identification of witnesses and 8 exhibits that it has realized that a motion to exclude 9 a particular piece of evidence or a particular witness 10 is necessary. 11 So, I mean that would be the problem I would 12 have with a deadline on the same day as the 13 disclosures, is that it would, it would necessarily 14 have to have an exception for motions or objections 15 based on the disclosures. 16 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Well assuming that we 17 keep the September 19, 2014, due date for exchange of 18 witnesses and exhibits, what date after that would you 19 propose for a filing of written stipulations and/or 20 motions in limine? 21 MR. STEVENSON: I, what immediately comes to 22 mind wouldbejust the following Friday, the 26th, or 23 that couldpotentiallybe moved up to the 25th or the 24 24th if we wanted to budget more time for any 25 considerationby Your Honor for the, consideration by

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1 Your Honor of those motions because I know especially, 2 especially if it's something asking that an entire 3 witness is going to be excluded, it's always nice if 4 that is going to be granted, then the witness doesn't 5 have to show up at the hearing. 6 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Mr. Silverberg, what's 7 your thought on that? MR. SILVERBERG: That is a workable 8 9 solution, Your Honor. I thinkwhat we're talking 10 about here, though, frankly, is we're only, there 11 wouldbe no basis that I can think of where a fact 12 witness from one party or the other wouldbe objected 13 to, but essentiallythemotions in limine would go to 14 potentially the qualifications, credentials and 15 conclusions drawn by any expert witness and we'll have 16 that information available to us after depositions of 17 experts, if any. 18 So having said that, if you want to stagger 19 the date for witness list and exhibit exchange with 20 the date for filing of motions in limine, I'm 21 agreeable to that. 22 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Why don't we do 23 this, why don't we schedule the written stipulations 24 and/ormotions in limine deadline for September 26, 25 2014.

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1 

### You're welcome, of course, to file them 2 before that if you getmaterial and you know for a 3 fact that there's going to be a problem and you need a 4 ruling. So, but this gives everybodythe comfort zone 5 that they thinkwouldworkbest for them. 6 I, I shouldnote that there are sometimes, I 7 understandthat there are sometimes objections to 8 multiple witnesses on the grounds of repetitiveness, 9 that type of thing, but I think the parties will have 10 plenty of time by now, or with this schedule to figure 11 out whether witnesses are actuallybeing called to 12 support each other or just to add pieces to the, to 13 the puzzle, if you will, different sections to the 14 puzzle. 15 So let's plan on September 19, 2014, for the 16 list ofwitnesses and exchange of exhibits. 17 September 26, 2014, for any written stipulations 18 and/ormotions in limine and then we'll see each other 19 all in Orlando, Florida, starting on October 7, 2014, 20 through Friday, October 10, 2014. 21 I will be giving you the location of the 22 hearing in Orlando, Florida, probably within sixweeks 23 

### to twomonths of the actual hearing and then I will 24 also send out for you a fairly detailed litigation 25 Order that codifies inwriting all of the dates that

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1 we've talked about this morning as well as how to mark 2 your exhibits, how to bringmatters to my attention if 3 you need to get before me again by telephone or to 4 file a motion or if you have problems with discovery. 5 There's also some material in the Order that 6 I'll send out about attorney withdrawal. I'mnot 7 suggesting that that shouldhappen in this case, but I 8 have had people for various reasons need to withdraw 9 and I'm giving in this Order how to do it well. 10 Lastly, this Order will also have the name 11 andphone number of the contact person at the Office 12 of the Hearings, Mr. Cody Smith, who is an attorney 13 advisor here who can help you if you have questions 14 about this procedural Order or need some assistance in 15 setting up a telephone conference if you need it for 16 another motion that we haven't talked about. 17 So with that, startingwith you, 18 Mr. Stevenson, is there anything else that we need to 19 address for your client todaybefore we close? 20 MR. STEVENSON: No, Your Honor. 21 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. 22 Mr. Silverberg, on behalf of your client, 23 any questions? 24 MR. SILVERBERG: No, Your Honor. 25 HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you both

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1 verymuch for your presence today and for your work in 2 this schedule discovery plan. 3 I look forward to seeing you next year and I 4 hope you all have a happy holiday in the interim. 5 With that, we can go off the record and I 6 wish you all a good day. 7 MR. SILVERBERG: Thank you verymuch, Your 8 Honor, appreciate your time. 9 10 11 MR. STEVENSON: Thank you, Your Honor. HONORABLE SULLIVAN: Thank you. Bye-bye. (Whereupon, at 11:48 a.m., the scheduling 12 conference was concluded.) 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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1 STATE OF MARYLAND, to wit: 2 I, Monica Voorhees, the officerbefore whom 3 the foregoing conference was taken, do hereby certify 4 that the within-named witness personally appeared 5 beforeme at the time and place herein set out, and 6 after having been duly sworn byme, according to law, 7 was examined by counsel. 8 I further certify that the examination was 9 recorded stenographicallybyme and this transcript is 10 a true record of the proceedings. 11 I further certifythat I am not of counsel 12 to any of the parties, nor an employee of counsel, nor 13 related to any of the parties, nor in anyway 14 interested in the outcome of this action. 15 As witness my hand and notarial seal this 16 7th day of November, 2013. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Monica Voorhees Notary Public

24 MY COMMISSION EXPIRES: 25 2/14/14

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