UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

 OFFICE OF HEARINGS

IN THE MATTER OF:

PROFESSIONAL FLIGHT TRANSPORT, INCORPORATED

 DOCKET NO: FAA-2015-0638

_____________________________________________________

 TELECONFERENCE HEARING BEFORE

 THE HONORABLE J.E. SULLIVAN

 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

 10:09 A.M.

 HISTORIC JORDAN SPRINGS

 1160 JORDAN SPRINGS ROAD

 STEPHENSON, VIRGINIA 22656
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 2

1 APPEARANCES

2 ON BEHALF OF THE PLAINTIFF,

3 FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION:

4 CHRISTOPHER STEVENSON, ESQUIRE

5 FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

6 OFFICE OF THE REGIONAL COUNSEL

7 P.O. BOX 20636

8 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30320

9 TELEPHONE: 404.305.5208

10 FACSIMILE: 404.305.5223

11 E-MAIL: CHRIS.STEVENSON@FAA.GOV

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In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 3

1 TELECONFERENCE HEARING

2 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

3 10:09 A.M.

4 THE COURT: Do I have Mr. Stevenson on the

5 line?

6 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor.

7 THE COURT: And do I have Mr. Goldstein on

8 the line?

9 THE COURT: I hear no response. Do I have Ms.

10 Andrea Mikus from County Court Reporters on the line?

11 COURT REPORTER: Yes, Your Honor.

12 THE COURT: Okay, Ms. Andrea are you ready?

13 COURT REPORTER: Yes, ma'am.

14 THE COURT: Okay, we're on the record in the

15 matter of Professional Flight Transport, Inc. This is

16 docket number FAA-20150638. Today is Tuesday,

17 September 22, 2015 and the parties are appearing today

18 for a Rule-16 litigation scheduling conference. The

19 Federal Aviation Administration, which I'll herein

20 after refer to as the FAA, is represented by its

21 attorney, Mr. Christopher Stevenson. The respondent,

22 Professional Flight Transport, Inc., is represented by

23 its attorney, Mr. Mark B. Goldstein. Mr. Goldstein is

24 not present and there's no explanation for his

25 absence.
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 4

1 This particular scheduling conference was

2 setup on July 6, 2015 by order setting of Rule-16

3 litigation scheduling conference and directing the

4 parties to confer and file a Rule-26F Proposed

5 Discovery Plan. I'll not that pursuant to that July 6,

6 2015 order, the FAA filed a unilateral proposed Rule7 26F Plan on September 15, 2015 and noted in that

8 filing that the respondent had failed to cooperate and

9 failed to participate in a Rule-26F Scheduling

10 Conference. In addition to the physical record that

11 it's in the court file, I'll not that prior to

12 convening today's proceedings the Office of Hearings

13 attorney staff, Mr. Cody L. Smith, received a phone

14 call from FAA attorney, Mr. Christopher Stevenson

15 indicating that there was an update on the case. That

16 there might be a settlement at hand. So Mr. Stevenson

17 could you describe what the status of the case is at

18 this point.

19 MR. STEVENSON: With regards to the

20 settlement, I had extended an offer to the respondent

21 in July and this morning I received an email from

22 opposing counsel indicating that they were interested

23 in accepting that requesting a modification as to a

24 payment schedule, and I have emailed them back saying

25 that that modification is acceptable. So I would say
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 5

1 that we have an agreement in principle, although we

2 have not formalized that through a written agreement

3 with all the details that that usually has.

4 THE COURT: Okay. What do you think would be

5 best for your client at this point? Since you're the

6 only party who has appeared today for this scheduled

7 conference.

8 MR. STEVENSON: It would be acceptable to my

9 client if Your Honor wanted to discontinue this. I

10 don't think that the settlement will fall apart. With

11 that said, in an ideal world a scheduling order would

12 be issued so that if for some reason it does fall

13 apart we've got that out there and I'll make sure that

14 the respondent has an attentive to promptly respond.

15 But I understand that the issue of such an order takes

16 up the Court's time and resources so.

17 THE COURT: I actually can do either one. So

18 it's entirely due to your preference at this point

19 because you're the only person who's appearing. The

20 Court has your proposed schedule, it's obviously not

21 objected to and the respondent has waived

22 participation given the respondent's lack of response

23 to you. The only question is whether or not that would

24 taint in any way your continued amiable settlement

25 discussions with your friend across the aisle.
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 6

1 MR. STEVENSON: I don't believe that the

2 would taint the settlement discussions. All the thing

3 being equal, my client might prefer the scheduling

4 order be issued as I said so that it is out there in

5 the event that some issue comes up if we're finalizing

6 the settlement.

7 THE COURT: Okay. Well, then let's talk about

8 that for just a minute and I'm going to pull that

9 draft order up on my computer screen so that I have

10 it. I'm happy to adopt your October 8, 2015 deadline

11 for initial disclosures and I typically will run the

12 general discovery to begin either the same day or

13 approximately a week later. So if it's acceptable to

14 you, Mr. Stevenson, I'll just change your proposed

15 October 15, I'm sorry, October 13, 2015 date to

16 October 15, 2015, and that will be a seven-day hiatus

17 between the initial disclosures being provided and the

18 general discovery beginning. Would that be acceptable

19 to you.

20 MR. STEVENSON: It would, Your Honor.

21 THE COURT: Okay. I will accept the joint

22 deadline of November 27, 2015 for the exchange of the

23 initial expert closures. My question to you is what

24 date do you prefer to have for the exchange of expert

25 rebuttal reports, if any? Usually it comes after the
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 7

1 initial expert closures.

2 MR. STEVENSON: I guess I've been

3 contemplated that as part of the March 25, 2016, but

4 not that you mention it that may be helpful to have

5 during the deposition period if necessary. So perhaps

6 near the end of December so that there would be the

7 opportunity to adjust deposition notices as

8 appropriate before the January 15th deadline assuming

9 that that deadline is adopted by the Court.

10 THE COURT: Okay, why don't we tighten that

11 up a little bit and just say December 18, 2015 for

12 expert rebuttal disclosures because that would give

13 you and your friend across the aisle plenty of time to

14 decide whether you need then to depose anyone that's

15 an expert. I'm happy to adopt the December 1, 2015,

16 beginning of the deposition period since you have both

17 expert and fact witnesses and fact witnesses can come

18 and be deposed prior to expert, experts, excuse me.

19 I'm happy to adopt your January 15, 2016 date for as a

20 deadline to issue deposition notices or to request

21 subpoenas. I'll adopt your March 11, 2016 date for the

22 end of your deposition period. I am going to go to my

23 calendar really quickly so that I can continue on into

24 the 2016 period. Okay. May I ask you a question? Mr.

25 Stevenson, you have continued your written discovery
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 8

1 request into March 25, 2016, oh, I see what you've

2 done. Okay, I'm happy to adopt that date. And I'm

3 happy to adopt all other dates and your materials that

4 you submitted, page two of the two-page FAA Proposed

5 Schedule.

6 The question I have then is the time period

7 that we need to set for the telephone motion

8 conference of the dispositive motions, you had

9 mentioned early 2016 as well as a hearing date. Let's

10 talk about the hearing date first. How many days do

11 you think this case might take if the parties don't

12 settle?

13 MR. STEVENSON: I would anticipate it taking

14 two days.

15 THE COURT: Would that include the

16 respondent's case in its entirety or just yours?

17 MR. STEVENSON: I believe that that would, it

18 would cover both of ours. It's sufficient enough of a

19 case that I would expect it to be done in two but I

20 would usually anticipate the Court scheduling it for

21 three just to be safe.

22 THE COURT: Okay, we'll schedule it for

23 three. Let's talk about the week of, the month of

24 October. I currently have most of that, my first full

25 open week is October 24th. Can you take a look at your
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 9

1 calendar and see if that would work for you?

2 MR. STEVENSON: It would, Your Honor.

3 THE COURT: Okay. So is this a case that

4 would be in Fort Lauderdale or some other area?

5 MR. STEVENSON: I would anticipate this being

6 located in the vicinity of the respondent.

7 THE COURT: Well, the respondent's attorney

8 is, the address I have and that's in Boca Raton,

9 Florida. Can you tell me where the respondent is

10 located?

11 MR. STEVENSON: The respondent is located in

12 Fort Lauderdale.

13 THE COURT: Okay. Then let's plan on an

14 October trial in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and let's

15 plan on Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Wednesday, October

16 26, 2016, and Thursday, October 27, 2016 for the trial

17 dates with travel time for Monday, October 24, 2016

18 and Friday, October 28, 2016. And since we've set the

19 day of the trial for October 25, 2016 as the beginning

20 date, let's talk about a telephone motion conference

21 on dispositive motion sometime in early August 2016.

22 Why don't we look at the week of August 8th, just to

23 start off with. Looking at your calendar, Mr.

24 Stevenson, is there any particular day or time during

25 that week that might work for you? And if not we can
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 10

1 go to a different week.

2 MR. STEVENSON: I will not be available on

3 Monday, August 8th or the morning of Tuesday, August

4 9th, but I would be available the remainder of that

5 week.

6 THE COURT: Would setting the matter on

7 Wednesday or Thursday work for you? And if so, which

8 date is preferable?

9 MR. STEVENSON: Either of those days would

10 work and Thursday the 11th would be preferable.

11 THE COURT: Okay. Do you have a preferred

12 time of day? Morning or afternoon?

13 MR. STEVENSON: Morning.

14 THE COURT: Okay. How about Thursday, August

15 11, 2016 at 10:00 A.M. in the morning?

16 MR. STEVENSON: That would be perfect.

17 THE COURT: Okay. Then let's see if there's

18 anything else we need to address. I don't see anything

19 else here that we need to address. Is there anything

20 else that we need to cover for your client that we

21 haven't already discussed?

22 MR. STEVENSON: No, Your Honor.

23 THE COURT: Okay. Then I will thank you very

24 much for your time today and for your Rule-26F

25 Unilateral Materials. It was very helpful in the
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 11

1 Court's preparation for today's conference. I'll look

2 forward to any settlement if the parties do in fact

3 resolve this matter, but in the interim I'll be

4 issuing a litigation order, if not this afternoon,

5 than certainly early tomorrow morning. With that I'm

6 going to thank you again. We can go off the record and

7 I wish ya'll a good day.

8 MR. STEVENSON: Thank you, Your Honor.

9 THE COURT: Thank you. Bye-bye.

10 (WHEREUPON, the Teleconference Hearing was concluded

11 at 10:25 A.M.)

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In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 12

1 STIPULATION

2

3 The foregoing matter was taken on the date, and at

4 the time and place set out on the title page hereof.

5

6 It was requested that the matter be taken by the

7 reporter and that the same be reduced to typewritten

8 form.

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CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER AND SECURE ENCRYPTED

 I, Andrea F. Mikus, do hereby certify that the

 foregoing matter was reported by stenographic and/or 

 mechanical means, that same was reduced to written form,

 that the transcript prepared by me or under my direction, 

 is a true and accurate record of same to the best of my 

 This transcript and certificate have been digitally

 the action filed or its outcome.

 knowledge and ability; that there is no relation nor 

 parties hereto, nor financial or otherwise interest in

 employment by any attorney or counsel employed by the

Court Reporter

SIGNATURE AND DELIVERY OF CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT

 signed and securely delivered through our encryption

 server.

 IN WITNESS HEREOF, I have here unto set my hand 

 this day of , .

Andrea F. Mikus

24th SEPTEMBER 2015
In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 14

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In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 15

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In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 16

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In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 17

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In Re: Professional Flight Transport September 22, 2015 VR # 2713-1 Page 18

setup 4:2

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