U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

------------------------x 

In the Matter of: 

AVIONICS MASTERS, INC. Docket No.: FAA-2013-0288 

------------------------x 

TELEPHONE PREHEARING CONFERENCE 

Department of Transportation 

Office of Hearings, M-20 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington, D.C. 

Tuesday, September 17, 2013 

The above-entitled matter carne on for hearing 

at 1:48 p.m., pursuant to notice. 

BEFORE: 

J.E. SULLIVAN, Administrative Law Judge 

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APPEARANCES: 

For the Respondents: 

CHARLES L. HUNT, JR. 

VINCENT SORTINO 

Avionics Masters, Inc. 

1001 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 309 

Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 

(954) 491-2580 

For the Agency: 

CHRISTOPHER R. STEVENSON, ESQ. 

Office of the Regional Counsel (AS0-7) 

Federal Aviation Administration 

P.O. Box 20636 

Atlanta, Georgia 30320 

(404) 305-5200 

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

2 JUDGE SULLIVAN: We are on the record in the 

3 matter of Avionics Masters, Inc. This is Docket Number 

4 FAA-2013-0288. Today is Tuesday, September 17, 2013, and 

5 the parties have convened by telephone for a litigation 

6 scheduling conference. 

7 The Federal Aviation Administration, which I'll 

8 hereinafter refer to as the FAA, is represented by 

9 attorney of record, Mr. Christopher R. Stevenson. The 

10 respondent, Avionics Master, Inc., is represented by its 

11 attorney, Charles L. Hunt, Jr. Also present by telephone 

12 with Mr. Hunt is Mr. Vincent Sortino, the respondent's 

13 accountable manager. 

14 MR. HUNT: Okay. And one slight correction, 

15 Your Honor. Charles Hunt, speaking, is the actual chief 

16 inspector for the operation, and not a certified 

17 

18 

attorney. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Hunt. 

19 So you're a lay representative, I take it? 

20 MR. HUNT: That is correct. 

21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Are you an employee of 

22 Avionics Masters, Inc.? 
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Page 4 

MR. HUNT: Yes, I am. I'm the chief inspector 

2 as FAA-certified. 

3 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you very much. 

4 

5 

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for 

your patience with the delay. It appears that we had a 

6 little snafu with the conference call operator, and I 

7 appreciate you all hanging in there so that we can get 

8 started. 

9 Let's start. Just briefly, essentially, there 

10 was a July 11, 2013 Order Setting Rule 16 Litigation 

11 Scheduling Conference that was filed, according to my 

12 record, on September 3, 2013. The respondent filed the 

13 answer to the complaint on September 10, 2013. The 

14 parties filed a joint proposed scheduling/discovery plan, 

15 which I've had a chance to review. And so I have a 

16 couple questions about that, and this conference may not 

17 take as long as some do, because of the good work that 

18 you both have done already. 

19 Have you talked about a place of venue? And 

20 what I'm going to do is I'm going to address the 

21 question, first, to the FAA, and then hear the respondent 

22 second, just like we would always do in litigation. 
Page 5 

1 So, Mr. Stevenson, any discussion or agreement 

2 about venue for the hearing? 

3 MR. STEVENSON: We did not discuss it 

4 specifically, but I think that's because we both kind of 

5 assumed it would be in the Fort Lauderdale area. The 

6 respondent is situated, if I'm not mistaken, is situated 

7 in Fort Lauderdale. And the FAA office doing the 

8 investigation is located in Miramar, which is right in 

9 between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. So I think we just 

10 assumed that Fort Lauderdale or the vicinity would be the 

11 best venue. 

12 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And Fort Lauderdale is 

13 how far from Miami, sir? 

14 

15 

MR. STEVENSON: Twenty miles. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Someone else answered, and 

16 currently I'm still speaking to Mr. Stevenson. So who 

17 just answered, please? 

18 MR. HUNT: Okay. It was Mr. Hunt, and since 

19 I'm in Fort Lauderdale, I know Miami is about 20 miles 

20 away. 

21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And Mr. Hunt, let me explain 

22 the process to you. We are currently recording this 
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conversation. You should not be speaking unless I 

specifically address a question to you. So if Mr. 

Stevenson is asked a question that he doesn't know, he'll 

tell me. If he's asked a question and he gives an answer 

you don't agree with, I'll give you a chance to tell me. 

Does that make sense to you so far? 

MR. HUNT: I understand. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then from here on out, 

9 right now, my questions are being addressed to Mr. 

10 Stevenson. And once I finish talking with him, I will be 

11 turning to you for your good services. So, Mr. 

12 Stevenson, can you tell me if you know how far Fort 

13 Lauderdale is from Miami? 

14 MR. STEVENSON: Well, my knowledge would just 

15 be based on what Google Maps could tell me, essentially. 

16 But I mean I think it's 25 to 30 miles from downtown to 

17 downtown, but obviously there a large enough metro area 

18 that that is going to vary, if you're talking about near 

19 edge to near edge or the far side to the far side. 

20 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And this essentially 

21 was an incident where there was an investigation that 

22 occurred in and around Fort Lauderdale, Florida. So your 
Page 7 

1 witnesses are going to be located there. 

2 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, yes, or the work office 

3 for the witnesses is in Miramar, which as I said is in 

4 between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, but Fort Lauderdale is 

5 fine for us. 

6 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. How much 

7 time do you anticipate you are going to meet for 

8 presentation of the FAA's prima facie case, if, in fact, 

9 all issues remain in dispute and the entire case is tried 

10 at a hearing? 

11 MR. STEVENSON: I think that even with a 

12 reasonable amount of cross-examination, the FAA's case in 

13 chief would just require a day. 

14 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. About how many people, 

15 to the best of your knowledge, would you be calling? And 

16 I understand that you can't know for certain right now, 

17 because you haven't done all of your discovery, but about 

18 how many witnesses? 

19 

20 

MR. STEVENSON: Two. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Would both of those witnesses 

21 be expert witnesses, or would one or more be lay? 

22 MR. STEVENSON: I would probably identify them 
Page 8 

1 both as -- they would both be FAA maintenance employees. 

2 I would probably identify them both as expert witnesses, 

3 although that could get cut down, depending on what the 

4 issues in dispute end up being. 

5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. I'm going 

6 to turn to you, Mr. Hunt. Let me start off with the 

7 question about Fort Lauderdale versus Miami. My 

8 understanding from your previous response, they're about 

9 30 miles distant from each other. Is that correct? 

10 

11 yes. 

12 

MR. HUNT: That's correct in round figures, 

,JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Do you have any idea, 

13 since you are in that local area, what the facilities for 

14 the U.S. District Court House is in Fort Lauderdale 

15 versus Miami? 

16 MR. HUNT: Well, there are two courthouses that 

17 we work with there. There's a federal court house 

18 downtown on Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, and 

19 there is also a federal courthouse downtown, Brickell 

20 Avenue, Miami. But, probably, the Fort Lauderdale 

21 courthouse would be the best location. 

22 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And why do you say that? 
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there. 

MR. HUNT: 

Page 9 

It's just more convenient to get 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: From where? 

MR. HUNT: From anywhere. There's a lot of 

parking problems and other things down there in Miami. 

It's fairly well open in Fort Lauderdale. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: In terms of airline traffic to 

8 and from Miami, and I know Miami is a fairly large 

9 international airport, what is Fort Lauderdale airport 

10 like for people who would be flying in from out of state? 

11 MR. HUNT: Well, Lauderdale airport essentially 

12 has the same carriers and is easily accessible from New 

13 York, Washington, Atlanta. So Fort Lauderdale 

14 International is a very large airport. 

15 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. Now, let me 

16 turn to you about the hearing itself. How much time do 

17 you think your presentation of the respondent's side of 

18 the case would take if you assumed that no issues are 

19 resolved between now and the hearing time? 

20 MR. HUNT: Normally, I would say three to four 

21 days, but probably three days would do it. 

22 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And how many witnesses would 
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1 the respondent need to call or you think you would have 

2 to call at this point in time, knowing, of course, that 

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4 

5 

6 

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discovery has not been completed? 

MR. HUNT: I would say at this point, probably, 

five to six people, one of which would be expert. The 

rest would be lay. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. Let's talk 

8 a little bit, Mr. Hunt, about whether or not you're going 

9 to remain the representative for the respondent. And I'm 

10 not trying to dissuade you from doing that, I just need 

11 to get a sense of what your history or expertise is in 

12 doing this kind of representation work, because that will 

13 guide me in terms of how much to explain or to assume 

14 that you know. Have you represented this company or 

15 other companies in the past in formal litigation like 

16 this before? 

17 MR. HUNT: Yes, I have. There've been several 

18 cases that I've dealt with, all of which I have prevailed 

19 in. And I do have, as necessary, a company attorney, Mr. 

20 Furuque, who would join us if it became necessary. 

21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And when you say, yes, 

22 you have, you've done this several times, has that been 
1 with the Office of Hearings at the United States 

2 Department of Transportation or somewhere else? 

Page 11 

3 MR. HUNT: Yes, it has. It was -- I forget the 

4 judge's name, but it was also an FAA case involving FSDO 

5 and in the Miami Court. 

6 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. So you're 

7 familiar with how to present exhibits, how to make 

8 motions, how to respond to motions, those kinds of 

9 things? 

10 

11 

MR. HUNT: Yes, I am. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. If at any time during 

12 this conversation I start talking about something that 

13 you're not familiar with, please let me know, and I will 

14 take a step back and explain it more fully. 

15 MR. HUNT: I can do that. Not a problem. 

16 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. I'm going 

17 to turn back to you, Mr. Stevenson, in looking at the 

18 joint, proposed scheduling/discovery plan, I have no 

19 problem at all with the October 1, 2013 deadline for 

20 initial disclosures. It appears that the October 15, 

21 2013 deadline for the beginning of the exchange or 

22 serving of general discovery requests works just 
Page 12 

1 beautifully for the parties, and I'm happy to adopt it. 

2 It appeared also that you want to have, essentially, a 

3 deadline for completing general discovery as of December 

4 18, 2013 with a December 27, 2013 deadline for requesting 

5 supplemental discovery based on the general discovery. 

6 Is that a correct interpretation of your materials or 

7 not? 

8 

9 

MR. STEVENSON: That's correct, Your Honor. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. In between October 15, 

10 2013 and December 18, 2013, do you have any particular 

11 interest in having a specific date set for the initial 

12 expert disclosures by the FAA and by the respondent? Or 

13 do you feel comfortable that the parties can exchange 

14 those without having a specific deadline? Some people 

15 like having a deadline; some people don't, and I just 

16 want to find out what your preference is. 

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18 

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20 

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MR. STEVENSON: Sorry. I'm thinking, Your 

Honor. I guess at the moment I do not have a preference 

one way or the other. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. The next question to 

you, sir well, it's not a question. It's a statement. 

Excuse me. I have no problem with the January 27, 2014 
1 deadline for completing supplemental discovery. 

Page 13 

I 

2 appreciate the parties' thoroughness in setting February 

3 10, 2014 as the deadline for filing dispositive motions, 

4 and I'm happy to adopt it. I'm also happy to adopt the 

5 February 24, 2014 deadline for filing answers to 

6 dispositive motions as well as a March 10, 2014 deadline 

7 for filing the reply. 

8 We do need to set a date and time for a 

9 telephone conference for oral argument on those motions, 

10 and then to set the subsequent date for exchange of 

11 witness lists and exhibits. And then, of course, 

12 scheduling a hearing time, I took a look at my May 

13 calendar, and I'm going to look at it again, because 

14 these calendars sometimes change depending on parties who 

15 settle. 

16 But my last look at my calendar for this case, 

17 which was yesterday, showed no May dates available, and 

18 that's exactly what it still showed today. I would be 

19 able to schedule this case for a hearing in June. Do you 

20 have any black-out dates in June that you know of now 

21 where you don't want anything scheduled? 

22 MR. STEVENSON: I do not, Your Honor. 
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Page 14 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And then, because Mr. 

2 Hunt has talked a little bit about Fort Lauderdale as 

3 being a preferred venue site over Miami, do you have any 

4 

5 

objection to that, sir? 

MR. STEVENSON: I do not have any objection and 

6 I would agree with -- I have no opinion as to the 

7 preferred site, but I would concur with Mr. Hunt that the 

8 Fort Lauderdale airport is fine and no one should have 

9 any -- either Fort Lauderdale or Miami. I don't think 

10 anyone would have any difficulties arranging transit into 

11 there. 

12 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. What I'll do is I'll 

13 simply set Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a stipulated 

14 venue site, and then if there are problems for any reason 

15 in early 2014 with getting a courtroom in Fort 

16 Lauderdale, I'll let you folks know and we can use Miami 

17 as a back-up. 

18 Anything else that we need to talk about in 

19 terms of scheduling, Mr. Stevenson, initially, before I 

20 turn back to Mr. Hunt? 

21 MR. STEVENSON: Well, the one is that we had --

22 I knew from the Liberty Foundation that Your Honor would 
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not have any availabilities 'til May or later, which is 

why we arranged our schedule. So if we cannot do the 

hearing until June, it would be a possibility for the 

agency and for the FAA, and it might be helpful to use 

that extra time to extend out some of the discovery 

periods that, if Mr. Hunt was amenable, rather than to 

give that an extra month at the end where we're -- you 

know-- everything's done but we're just waiting for the 

hearing. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Well, that may be, but I just 

11 need to make sure that I have enough time once I hear the 

12 summary judgment argument to issue a summary judgment 

13 decision, assuming one is filed. Prior to setting a due 

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20 

date for the parties to file their witness lists and 

exhibits, and so I'm going to kind of keep the June time 

open when scheduled. We have so far, until I see 

whether or not there is extra time. And if there's extra 

time, I'm happy to access some of these dates. If 

there's not, then I think what you've identified so far 

is very good. 

21 Mr. Hunt, let me turn back to you. Are there any 

22 blackout dates in June that you know of at this time for 
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1 hearing? 

2 MR. HUNT: Not at this time. It looks like I 

3 haven't really put anything in stone for June, so I'm 

4 flexible at this point. 

5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then I just want to 

6 make sure that you understand that once we set the 

7 hearing, it's set --your primary calendaring -- so that 

8 you can schedule everything else around it. 

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10 

MR. HUNT: Absolutely. That's not a problem. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Excuse me. Okay. Let 

11 me ask you a couple things. Do you have a preference as 

12 to whether or not you want to have a specific deadline 

13 for the initial expert disclosures between the dates of 

14 October 15, 2013 and December 18, 2013? 

15 MR. HUNT: I don't have any necessity for that 

16 at this point. I think the schedule is laid out. Mr. 

17 Stevenson and I have both reviewed the schedule as we put 

18 it together, and I pretty much concur with it. So I 

19 don't need to have any initial deadlines in that area. 

20 No problem. 

21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. Then let's 

22 talk about the actual hearing date. And I think if we 
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end up doing a hearing date -- I'm so sorry. 

recovering from a cold and you can tell. 

MR. HUNT: Yeah. 

Page 17 

I'm 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: If we do the hearing date in 

early June, we may be able to bump some of these 

discovery times out to pitch. So let me just go back to 

7 my May calendar. Starting with you, Mr. Stevenson, how 

8 about the week of June 9, 2014, for hearing in Fort 

9 Lauderdale, Florida? 

10 MR. STEVENSON: I have no conflicts with that, 

11 Your Honor. 

12 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Currently, we have a three-day 

13 hearing request from the respondent. Would it be 

14 acceptable for you to travel on Monday and try the case 

15 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and travel back home on 

16 Friday? 

17 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor. 

18 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, is the week 

19 of June 9, 2014, as I just described, acceptable for your 

20 client? 

21 MR. HUNT: Yes, that's fine. It should be 

22 okay. 
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JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then what we'll do is 

2 we'll set the matter to start on Tuesday, June 10, 2014. 

3 We'll reconvene on Wednesday, June 11, 2014, and we'll 

4 conclude on Thursday, June 12, 2014. And, typically, 

5 folks, we start at 9 and go 'til 5 p.m. every day. Just 

6 so you know, I usually take an hour and 15 minutes for 

7 lunch so that people can leave the courthouse and walk or 

8 drive to a restaurant of their choice and then come back 

9 on time. 

10 In addition, I'll take a morning recess and an 

11 afternoon recess, typically 10 to 15 minutes, depending 

12 on where we are with our witnesses. So you can plan on 

13 that. And then we'll have Monday and Friday as travel 

14 days for those of us who need to come in to town for the 

15 hearing and for the witnesses who need to plan 

16 accordingly. 

17 That having been said, Mr. Stevenson, turning 

18 back to you, how far in advance would you like to have an 

19 exchange of the list of witnesses and exhibits from the 

20 date of the first date of trial? 

21 MR. STEVENSON: I don't have any particular 

22 I guess I'm used to it being at least three weeks 
Page 19 

1 beforehand. But if I recall scheduling orders in other 

2 cases with Your Honor, the timeframe has been longer than 

3 that and I'm fine with longer than that as well. 

4 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. It just depends on what 

5 the parties' preferences are, quite frankly. So I have 

6 had some people ask for six weeks out. Some people want 

7 four weeks. Some people say two. Some people say three. 

8 So it just depends on your general practice and what the 

9 comfort level is with everybody trying the case. So 

10 three weeks is fine with me. 

11 Mr. Hunt, do you have a preference? 

12 MR. HUNT: Not in particular; three weeks is 

13 fine for us, also. 

14 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Because what I'm going 

15 to do is I'm going to backtrack a little bit now, and 

16 then we can see how much -- who should and can we add to 

17 the discovery. So starting with the first day of trial, 

18 starting on June lOth, we're talking about having witness 

19 lists and exhibits exchanged by May 16, 2014. And then I 

20 should have my decision issued on any dispositive motions 

21 by the 2nd of May or earlier, which means we should have 

22 the -- actually, I don't think we're going to have too 
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1 much time. 

2 I need to check when I'm going to be in the 

3 office to schedule an oral argument on your summary 

4 judgment. Starting with you, Mr. Stevenson, can you 

5 schedule a one and one-half hour telephone conference the 

6 week of May 28th? And before I say that, I need to find 

7 out when Memorial Day is. 

8 I'm okay. It's the week of April 28th, 2014. 

9 That would be April 28, 2014 through May 2nd, 2014. 

10 MR. STEVENSON: I do not have any conflicts 

11 with that. The one thing I would note is I requested 

12 because we're going to be in the Liberty Foundation, like 

13 possibly all week. So that it could not be on the 

14 morning of the 28th, so I could have a little chance to 

15 get situated, but other than that, I do not have any 

16 conflicts that week. 

17 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Actually, I may need to bump 

18 that up because of Liberty. And, Mr. Hunt, just so you 

19 know, Mr. Stevenson has another case before me that's 

20 scheduled for trial the week of April 21st. So let's go 

21 back. What about the week of April 14 through 18th, Mr. 

22 Stevenson? Would you have time during that week for a 1-
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1 1/2 hour oral argument? 

2 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor, I would ask if 

3 we could not be early in the morning on Ash Wednesday, 

4 the 16th. 

5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, would the 

6 week of April 14th through the 18th work for you for a 1-

7 1/2 hour telephone motion conference? 

8 MR. HUNT: Yes, Your Honor, that's fine. 

9 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Do you have any preference, 

10 Mr. Hunt, for times during the day, or does it matter? 

11 MR. HUNT: The 1:30 time spot looks pretty good 

12 for me most of the times. 

13 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Stevenson, how 

14 about Tuesday, April 15 at 1:30 in the afternoon? Would 

15 that work for you? 

16 

17 

18 

Honor. 

MR. STEVENSON: That would work for me, Your 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And, Mr. Hunt, was that 

19 acceptable, as well? 

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21 

MR. HUNT: Yes, Your Honor. That's fine. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Then that will be our summary 

22 judgment/dispositive motion time. And, folks, if there 
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are no dispositive motions filed, we'll still have the 

telephone conference as a pretrial status conference so 

that I can assume if there's any matters that need to be 

addressed. That being the case, we can probably bump out 

the supplemental discovery timeline. 

Mr. Hunt, turning to you, would you rather bump 

out the deadline for completing general discovery, which 

is currently December 18, 2013, or do you just want to 

expand the supplemental discovery period? 

MR. HUNT: No, let's just expand the 

11 supplemental. That's fine. 

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JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, is that 

acceptable to you, as well? 

MR. STEVENSON: I guess I haven't calculated 

how much time we'd be playing with. All things being 

equal, I would actually suggest extending the general 

discovery, because that gives us a little bit more time 

to play with -- I was going to say a little bit more time 

to play with scheduling depositions. Although now that 

I'm looking at it, extending the deposition period from 

December 18 through the end of December probably does not 

really add a lot of witness availability. 
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JUDGE SULLIVAN: Yeah. 

MR. HUNT: No. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: No. 

MR. STEVENSON: No. 

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JUDGE SULLIVAN: Well, let's do this. How 

6 about if we do this? We can reset a little bit the 

7 deadlines for dispositive motions, and then we can decide 

8 what we want to do with that cushion of time that we 

9 create. So I'm going to just take a look at my calendar 

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11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

and make some suggestions to you all. 

How about this? We can expand from February 

10, 2014, the deadline for filing dispositive motions 

almost a month to March 6, 2014. And then set the answer 

deadline to March 20, 2014, which is two weeks after, 

and then the deadline for filing a reply to April 3, 

2014. If we do that, that opens another month for 

17 potential discovery. 

18 Mr. Stevenson, turning first to you in your 

19 calendar, would the dates of March 6, 2014, March 20, 

20 2014, and April 3, 2014, work well for you in terms of 

21 calendaring and actually doing that kind of written work? 

22 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor. 
1 

2 you? 

3 

4 us. 

Page 24 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, how about for 

MR. HUNT: Yes, Your Honor. That's fine with 

5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then let's turn back to 

6 the expansion of the discovery time period. You had 

7 previously identified a period of one month for 

8 supplemental discovery. That would be basically be 

9 subsequent to depositions that had been taken during 

10 general discovery period. 

11 You had also identified, essentially, about two 

12 weeks between the deadline for completing supplemental 

13 discovery and the deadline for filing dispositive 

14 motions. We could, if you wanted to keep to that same 

15 kind of timeframe, that supplemental discovery to 

16 conclude on February 20th to start on January 20th, and 

17 then basically to push out the deadline for completing 

18 general discovery to approximately January 13, as opposed 

19 to December 18. Or we can just keep the December 18, 

20 2013, deadline for general discovery and open up the 

21 supplemental discovery time period. It just depends on 

22 what you would like to do. 
1 

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Page 25 

Mr. Stevenson, do you have a preference? 

MR. STEVENSON: If I understood your 

3 suggestions correctly, we would be able to extend the 

4 deadline for the close of general discovery to 

5 approximately January 13. 

6 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Correct. 

7 MR. STEVENSON: And then still have 

8 supplemental discovery closed 

9 JUDGE SULLIVAN: February 20th. 

10 

11 

MR. STEVENSON: -- February 20th. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Or you can have supplemental 

12 discovery closed February 13. Now it just depends on how 

13 much time you want to take to put together dispositive 

14 motion after discovery is done. 

15 MR. STEVENSON: Normally, I would want to put 

16 some extra time into the general discovery, but I'm not 

17 sure how much that helps with the holidays being around 

18 that timeframe. And I think there would be some value in 

19 having supplemental discovery. I mean if you figure 30 

20 days after it, I'd like to initiate supplemental 

21 discovery is when we would know that if there were going 

22 to be any disputes about what that supplemental discovery 
Page 26 

1 was, having more time in the supplemental discovery 

2 period would give us a chance to deal with that before we 

3 got into writing dispositive motions. 

4 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. You would prefer to 

5 keep the December 18, 2013, general discovery deadline 

6 and open up the supplemental time? 

7 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, either keep the December 

8 18th or -- yeah. I think may changing it from the 18th 

9 to the 20th. I know that that's not much -- an extra day 

10 but I think the 20th will really be the last day that 

11 I think there's any possibility of doing a deposition, 

12 given the holiday seasons anywhere. 

13 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, what do you 

14 think of that proposal? Would it be the 18th of December 

15 to the 20th of December, and then keeping the rest for 

16 supplemental? 

17 MR. HUNT: Well, even though the holidays would 

18 come in that area, I think if you pushed the general 

19 discovery to like -- you know January lOth, 13th, I 

20 think that was a good idea. And then, because it's 

21 possible that after the holidays that would be a week in 

22 there that we could maybe get the final things done for 
Page 27 

1 the general depositions; but, either way, it doesn't 

2 bother me. 

3 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. I'll tell you. Based 

4 on my own experience I have found that people simply are 

5 not available the last full week of December and the 

6 first full week of January. 

7 

8 

MR. HUNT: Yeah. That's close. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: I have never found that to be 

9 a happy time to try to pull people into court for any 

10 reason, for end of deposition. So I think that a 

11 December 20, 2013 deadline for general discovery and for 

12 taking your depositions probably is going to be 

13 practically the most meaningful period. 

14 

15 

MR. HUNT: Yeah. That works. That's fine. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Let's keep December 27th, 

16 2013, as your beginning of asking for exchange of 

17 supplemental discovery, and then we'll just move January 

18 27, 2014 to February 21, which is a Friday, 2014. That's 

19 the deadline for completing it, and that gives you a 

20 little bit more leeway and it also gives you a little bit 

21 of breathing room between February 21, 2014, and March 6, 

22 2014, which would b e the deadline for filing a 
Page 28 

1 dispositive motion. 

2 Mr. Stevenson, does that work for you? 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And Mr. Hunt? 

MR. HUNT: Yes, Your Honor. That looks good. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: And for supplemental discovery 

requests, I put December 27th as the deadline. 

sure I should be doing that. 

I'm not 

9 Mr. Stevenson, do you want to push that out a little bit 

10 farther into January? 

11 MR. STEVENSON: Yes. I would be okay with 

12 pushing that out. My main concern is that there is a 

13 deadline for when those need to be issued so that it 

14 doesn't go all the way until the end of the supplemental 

15 discovery period. That's not leaving any time if there's 

16 any dispute that arises. 

17 JUDGE SULLIVAN: How about January 10, 2014, as 

18 the deadline for exchanging or serving supplemental 

19 discovery requests? Would that work? 

20 

21 

22 

MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt? 

MR. HUNT: Yes, Your Honor. That's January 10. 
1 

2 

3 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: 2014. 

MR. HUNT: Yeah. We'll work with that. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Great. 

Page 29 

4 Mr. Stevenson, turning back to you, is there anything 

5 else that we need to address for your client today in 

6 terms of setting the litigation schedule? 

7 

8 

MR. STEVENSON: Not at this time, Your Honor. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, turning to 

9 you, anything else that we need to address for your 

10 client today? 

11 MR. HUNT: Not at this time, Your Honor. 

12 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Folks, what I'll do is 

13 I'll send out an order setting litigation dates and 

14 procedures that basically codifies all of the dates that 

15 we've talked about and agreed to. It will also give you 

16 some information about filing motions to compel, if you 

17 have problems with discovery, how to set up a telephone 

18 conference on my calendar that's in addition to what 

19 we've already scheduled and how to mark exhibits. 

20 There's also information about attorney withdrawal. 

21 So, Mr. Hunt, if you decide that for whatever reason 

22 are not going to be representing the respondent anymore, 
Page 30 

1 you would need to read through the attorney withdrawal 

2 section, which is under paragraph I as in igloo, and 

3 comply with that before you withdraw. And withdrawal is 

4 by motion. It's not simply a letter telling me you 

5 decided to just get out. You have to move for 

6 permission. 

7 There's also going to be an identification of 

8 the attorney who is working on this case with me. He 

9 probably had a chance to speak with him already with the 

10 conference call being somewhat delayed this morning, but 

11 it's Mr. Smith and that is actually his true name. 

12 

13 

MR. HUNT: Very good. 

JUDGE SULLIVAN: And it will give you his name 

14 and his phone number in case you have any questions about 

15 what the order says or how to go about complying with it. 

16 So I will wish you all good luck with this case. As you 

17 know, settlement discussions should be considered in 

18 addition to any litigation preparation and discovery that 

19 you do that's part of taking care of the case. 

20 If you settle all or part of the case, let me 

21 know. If you don't, I don't have a vested interest in 

22 whether you do or not. You just have a right to do that, 
Page 31 

1 if you like. And, in the meantime, I will look forward 

2 to talking to you in 2014 on April 15, 2014, from 1:30 to 

3 3 p.m., either for argument on a dispositive motion or 

4 series of motions, or as a prehearing status conference. 

5 

6 With that, it appears our business is complete. 

7 We can go off the record. 

8 (Whereupon, at 2:28p.m., the conference was 

9 concluded.) 

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