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FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

In the Matter of: Docket No. 

ROMNEY CYCLE CENTER, FAA-2015-0203 

6 Respondent. 

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10 The prehearing status conference via 

11 telephone in the above-entitled matter 

12 commenced on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 9:35 

13 a.m. 

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BEFORE: THE HONORABLE J.E. SULLIVAN 

U.S. Administrative Law Judge 

20 Reported by: Melissa G. Fleming 

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Romney Cycle Center 3/22/2016 

1 A P P E A R A N C E S 

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3 ON BEHALF OF THE COMPLAINANT: 

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JEANINE C. GOTIMER, ESQ. 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Enforcement Division 

Northeast Team 

1 Aviation Plaza 

Jamaica, New York 11434 

( 718) 553-3272 

13 ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT: 

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BRIAN W. STOLARZ, ESQ. 

Leclair Ryan 

2318 Mill Road 

Suite 1100 

Alexandria, Virginia 22314 

(703) 684-8007 

Brian.Stolarz@leclairryan.com 

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Romney Cycle Center 3/22/2016 

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

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3 JUDGE SULLIVAN: We're on the record 

4 in the matter of Romney Cycle Center. This is 

5 Docket Number FAA-2015-0203. 

6 Today is Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016, 

7 and the parties have convened by telephone for 

8 another prehearing status conference. I 

9 believe according to the notes I made, this is 

10 the second prehearing status conference with 

11 the last conference having been held on 

12 February 4, 2016, during which time-- I'm 

13 sorry, February 24, 2016. 

14 I apologize, folks. I just got off 

15 the phone with somebody else and I'm running 

16 into the problem of looking at the file and 

17 trying to find my place. Let me try again. 

18 Essentially the parties have last 

19 convened on February 4, 2016 for a prehearing 

20 status conference and at that time they agreed 

21 that the matter would benefit greatly from 

22 some informal discussions before they next 

23 convened. 

24 As a result on February 4, 2016, an 

25 order directing the parties to discuss the 

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1 case and setting a second prehearing status 

2 conference was filed setting the matter to 

3 today's date and time. 

4 It was my understanding from the last 

5 conversation we had that the parties would 

6 have an informal meeting on February 24, 2016 

7 with the FAA initiating the telephone call. 

8 After that meeting, the parties would 

9 reconvene today and tell me the status of the 

10 case. 

11 So, Ms. Gotimer, why don't I turn to 

12 you first. What is the status of the case at 

13 this point? 

14 MS. GOTIMER: Your Honor, the parties 

15 have agreed to a settlement and we need to 

16 draft the settlement documents. 

17 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And when will you be 

18 doing that? 

19 MS. GOTIMER: Mr. Stolarz and I have 

20 agreed that we would have those signed 

21 documents by the end of next week. 

22 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And when you say have 

23 them by the end of next week, does that mean 

24 that you will have them filed with me by April 

25 1, 2016, or are you talking about just 

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1 transferring them back and forth between the 

2 two of you? 

3 MS. GOTIMER: We were hoping to have 

4 them filed with you by April 1. 

5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Anything else 

6 you'd like to say before I turn to 

7 Mr. Stolarz? 

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MS. GOTIMER: No. Thank you. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Mr. Stolarz, anything 

10 you would like to add or correct to that 

11 summary of the parties' status of the case? 

12 MR. STOLARZ: Counsel is correct. I 

13 would state for the record that I want to note 

14 the professionalism in the way in which the 

15 FAA attorney handled this one. I was very 

16 thankful for her ability to go back and speak 

17 to her people and address this matter. 

18 So I really want to thank her for her 

19 willingness to listen and thank you, Your 

20 Honor, for giving us the chance to talk it out 

21 before the hearing. 

22 And if-- you know, I'm out this 

23 spring break. I know that she is out next 

24 week. If we -- if Your Honor could be 

25 inclined to give us more time that's needed 

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1 for the settlement agreement, then I'd be fine 

2 with that, too. I just want to make sure that 

3 everyone has enough time to make sure that the 

4 settlement agreement is done. 

5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. 

6 Well, I appreciate hearing from either 

7 counsel whenever they're pleased and happy 

8 with the work of their friend across the 

9 aisle. 

10 So, Ms. Gotimer, it's delightful to 

11 hear that you're doing so well with your 

12 colleagues. Thank you. 

13 I will note that there has already 

14 been a notice of hearing location issued in 

15 this case dated March 10, 2016. The hearing 

16 is currently set to begin on May 17, 2016. 

17 So why don't we do this, instead of 

18 scheduling another prehearing status 

19 conference, which I know takes time and money 

20 since the FAA is paying for the court reporter 

21 and the transcript, why don't we schedule a 

22 due date for filing the documents. And if you 

23 cannot meet that due date, then contact the 

24 attorney who works with me. His name is Cody 

25 L. Smith, and let him know and tell him when 

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1 you think you can, if you haven't been able to 

2 meet the first deadline and we want to talk a 

3 little bit about that. Because if you don't 

4 ever file settlement papers, you have to show 

5 up for the hearing and you don't want to do 

6 that obviously if you don't have to. 

7 So is April 1, 2016 a reasonable 

8 deadline for you to get everything into this 

9 Court so that I can issue a dismissal, or do 

10 you want to tweak that date a little bit? 

11 Ms. Gotimer, starting with you? 

12 MS. GOTIMER: I think it would be 

13 beneficial if we could tweak that. 

14 JUDGE SULLIVAN: What would you like 

15 it to be? 

16 MS. GOTIMER: Maybe one week out from 

17 that, April 8. 

18 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Mr. Stolarz, would 

19 that work for you as well? 

20 MR. STOLARZ: Yes. It would be better 

21 for all parties. That's fine, yes. 

22 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. What I'm going 

23 to do is I'm going to set a deadline of April 

24 8, 2016 for submission of settlement 

25 documents. If you don't have those filed by 

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1 April 8, 2016, contact Mr. Smith and you can 

2 do that very informally. You can get on the 

3 phone and call him or E-mail him, you may have 

4 done already, and just note that, you know, 

5 you need a little extra time and tell him what 

6 that time is and then he and I will adjust 

7 that deadline accordingly in my tick calendar. 

8 Because the way I run my docket is if 

9 I have a deadline set, I'm going to pull that 

10 case on that date and say where are those 

11 documents. 

12 So April 8, 2016 is basically a 

13 document submission deadline date. If you 

14 want to get it in earlier than that, feel 

15 free. If you can't meet that deadline, then 

16 please notify Mr. Smith so that we can change 

17 the docket. 

18 If we don't hear anything from you, 

19 then I'll set up another telephone conference 

20 and I'll blind set it and just set up a date 

21 that is convenient to me and send out an order 

22 and tell you both to appear, which I prefer 

23 not to do at all, but that's my default if I 

24 don't have something in hand. 

25 Ms. Gotimer, anything else we can 

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1 address for you, any questions you might have 

2 about that process? 

3 MS. GOTIMER: No, Your Honor. I just 

4 wanted to also thank Mr. Stolarz for his 

5 professionalism. 

6 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Thank you. And, 

7 again, it's just a pleasure for the Court to 

8 hear about all these wonderful dialogues going 

9 on between counsel. 

10 Mr. Stolarz, you have been 

11 complimented by your friend across the aisle. 

12 Thank you very much for your wonderful work in 

13 representing your client. 

14 Is there anything else that you on 

15 behalf of your client would like to ask about 

16 or address before we close this morning? 

17 MR. STOLARZ: No. I think we're done. 

18 Thank you, Your Honor, for everything. 

19 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. It 

20 appears our business is complete. With that, 

21 we can go off the record and I excuse me, 

22 before we go off the record, I look forward to 

23 receiving your materials on or before April 8, 

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25 With that, we can go off the record 

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

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MR. STOLARZ: Thank you. 

MS. GOTIMER: Thank you. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Bye-bye. 

(Whereupon, at 9:43a.m., the 

6 conference was concluded.) 

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Romney Cycle Center 3/22/2016 

1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 

2 

3 I, Melissa G. Fleming, do hereby 

4 certify that the foregoing proceedings were 

5 transcribed by me stenographically and reduced 

6 to typewriting under my supervision; that I am 

7 neither counsel for, related to, nor employed 

8 by any of the parties to the action in which 

9 these proceedings were transcribed; and 

10 further, that I am not a relative or employee 

11 of any attorney or counsel employed by the 

12 parties hereto, nor financially or otherwise 

13 interested in the outcome of the action. 

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