### U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

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

### In the Matter of: AVIONICS MASTERS, INC. Docket No.: FAA-2013-0288

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### TELEPHONE PREHEARING CONFERENCE Department of Transportation Office of Hearings, M-20 1200New JerseyAvenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The above-entitledmatter 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 CreekRoad, Suite 309 

### Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 (954) 491-2580



### For theAgency: CHRISTOPHER R. STEVENSON, ESQ.

Office of the Regional Counsel (AS0-7)

Federal AviationAdministration

P.O. Box 20636



### Atlanta, Georgia 30320

(404) 305-5200 

### Page 2Page 3 

### 1 P R0 C E E D I N GS 2 JUDGE SULLIVAN: We are on the record in the 3 matter ofAvionics Masters, Inc. This is Docket Number 

### 4 FAA-2013-0288. Today is Tuesday, September 17, 2013, and 5 the parties have convenedbytelephone for a litigation 6 scheduling conference. 

### 7 The FederalAviationAdministration, which I'll 8 hereinafter refer to as the FAA, is representedby 9 attorney of record, Mr. Christopher R. Stevenson. The 10 respondent, Avionics Master, Inc., is representedby its 11 attorney, Charles L. Hunt, Jr. Also presentbytelephone 12 withMr. Hunt is Mr. Vincent Sortino, the respondent's 13 accountablemanager. 

### 14 MR. HUNT: Okay. And one slight correction, 15 YourHonor. Charles Hunt, speaking, is the actual chief 16 inspector for the operation, and not a certified 17 18 attorney. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thankyou, 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.?1 Page 4 MR. HUNT: Yes, I am. I'mthe chief inspector 2 as FAA-certified. 3 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thankyou verymuch. 4 5 Good afternoon, everyone, andthankyou for yourpatience with the delay. It appears that we had a 6 little snafuwith 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 SettingRule 16Litigation 11 SchedulingConference thatwas filed, according tomy 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/discoveryplan, 15 which I'vehad a chance to review. And so I have a 16 couple questions about that, and this conferencemay not 17 take as long as some do, because of the goodwork that 18 youboth have done already. 

### 19 Have you talked about a place ofvenue? And 20 what I'mgoing to do is I'mgoing to address the 21 question, first, to the FAA, andthen hearthe 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 itwouldbe in the Fort Lauderdale area. The 6 respondent is situated, if I'mnotmistaken, is situated 7 in Fort Lauderdale. And the FAA office doing the 8 investigation is located inMiramar, which is right in 9 between Fort Lauderdale andMiami. So I thinkwe just 10 assumed that Fort Lauderdale or the vicinitywouldbe the 11 best venue. 12 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And Fort Lauderdale is 13 how far fromMiami, sir? 

### 14 15 MR. STEVENSON: Twentymiles. 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: AndMr. Hunt, letme explain 22 the process to you. We are currentlyrecordingthis1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Page 6 conversation. You shouldnot be speakingunless I specifically address a question to you. So ifMr. Stevenson is asked a question that he doesn't know, he'll tellme. Ifhe's asked a question andhe gives an answer you don't agree with, I'll give you a chance to tellme.

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 addressedtoMr. 10 Stevenson. And once I finish talkingwith him, I will be 11 turning to you for your good services. So, Mr. 12 Stevenson, can you tellme ifyou know how far Fort 13 Lauderdale is fromMiami? 

### 14 MR. STEVENSON: Well, my knowledge wouldjust 15 be based onwhat Google Maps couldtellme, essentially. 16 But I mean I think it's 25 to 30 miles from downtown to 17 downtown, but obviously there a large enoughmetro 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 incidentwhere there was an investigation that 22 occurred in and around Fort Lauderdale, Florida. So yourPage 7 1 witnesses are going to be locatedthere. 2 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, yes, or the work office 3 for the witnesses is inMiramar, which as I saidis in 4 between Fort Lauderdale andMiami, but Fort Lauderdale is 5 fine for us. 6 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. How much 7 time do you anticipate you are going tomeet for 8 presentation of the FAA's prima facie case, if, in fact, 9 all issues remain in dispute andthe entire case is tried 10 at a hearing? 11 MR. STEVENSON: I thinkthat even with a 12 reasonable amount of cross-examination, the FAA's case in 13 chiefwouldjust require a day. 

### 14 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. About how manypeople, 15 to the best of your knowledge, wouldyoube calling? And 16 I understandthat you can't know for certain right now, 17 because you haven't done all of your discovery, but about 18 how manywitnesses? 

### 19 20 MR. STEVENSON: Two. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Wouldboth of those witnesses 21 be expert witnesses, or would one ormore be lay? 22 MR. STEVENSON: I wouldprobably identifythemPage 8 1 both as -- theywouldbothbe FAAmaintenance employees. 2 I wouldprobably identifythemboth as expert witnesses, 3 although that could get cut down, depending onwhat the 4 issues in dispute end upbeing. 5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thankyou. I'mgoing 6 to turn to you, Mr. Hunt. Letme start off with the 7 question about Fort Lauderdale versus Miami. My 8 understanding from yourprevious response, they're about 9 30 miles distant from each other. Is that correct? 

### 10 11 yes. 12 MR. HUNT: That's correct inround figures,

,JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Do youhave 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 workwith there. There's a federal court house 18 downtown on BrowardBoulevardin Fort Lauderdale, and 19 there is also a federal courthouse downtown, Brickell 20 Avenue, Miami. But, probably, the Fort Lauderdale 21 courthouse wouldbe the best location. 22 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Andwhy do you saythat?1 

### 2 3 4 5 6 7 there. MR. HUNT: Page 9 It'sjustmore convenient to get

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Fromwhere? MR. HUNT: From anywhere. There's a lot of parkingproblems and other things down there inMiami. It's fairly well open in Fort Lauderdale. JUDGE SULLIVAN: In terms of airline traffic to 8 and fromMiami, and I know Miami is a fairly large 9 international airport, what is Fort Lauderdale airport 10 like for people who wouldbe flying in from out of state? 11 MR. HUNT: Well, Lauderdale airport essentially 12 has the same carriers and is easilyaccessible fromNew 13 York, Washington, Atlanta. So Fort Lauderdale 14 International is a very large airport. 15 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. Now, letme 16 turn to you about the hearing itself. How much time do 17 you think yourpresentation of the respondent's side of 18 the case wouldtake if you assumed that no issues are 19 resolvedbetweennow and the hearingtime? 20 MR. HUNT: Normally, I would saythree to four 21 days, but probably three days would do it. 

### 22 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And howmany witnesses wouldPage 10 1 the respondent needto call or you think you wouldhave 2 to call at this point in time, knowing, of course, that 3 4 5 6 7 discoveryhas not been completed? MR. HUNT: I would say at this point, probably, five to sixpeople, one ofwhichwouldbe expert. The rest wouldbe lay. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. Let's talk 8 a littlebit, 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 representationwork, because that will 13 guideme in terms of how much to explain or to assume 14 that you know. Have you representedthis companyor 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 haveprevailed 19 in. And I do have, as necessary, a company attorney, Mr. 20 Furuque, who wouldjoinus if itbecame necessary. 21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Andwhen you say, yes, 22 you have, you've done this several times, has that been1 with the Office of Hearings at the United States 2 Department of Transportation or somewhere else? Page 11

3 MR. HUNT: Yes, it has. Itwas -- I forget the 4 judge's name, but itwas also an FAA case involving FSDO 5 and in the Miami Court. 

### 6 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. So you're 7 familiar withhow topresent exhibits, how tomake 8 motions, how to respond tomotions, 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 letme know, and I will 14 take a stepback and explain itmore fully. 15 MR. HUNT: I can do that. Not a problem. 16 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thank you. I'mgoing 17 to turnbackto you, Mr. Stevenson, in looking at the 18 joint, proposed scheduling/discoveryplan, I have no 19 problemat all with the October 1, 2013 deadline for 20 initial disclosures. It appears that the October 15, 21 2013 deadline for thebeginning of the exchange or 22 serving of general discovery requests works justPage 12 1 beautifully for the parties, and I'mhappy 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 discoverybased on the general discovery. 6 Is that a correct interpretation of yourmaterials or 7 not? 8 

### 9 MR. STEVENSON: That's correct, Your Honor. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Inbetween October 15, 10 2013 and December 18, 2013, do you have any particular 11 interest inhaving a specific date set for the initial 12 expert disclosures by the FAA andbythe respondent? Or 13 do you feel comfortable that theparties can exchange 14 those without having a specific deadline? Some people 15 like having a deadline; somepeople don't, and I just 16 want to find out what your preference is. 

### 17 18 

### 19 20 21 22 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.

Excuseme. I have no problemwiththe January 27, 20141 deadline for completing supplemental discovery. Page 13 I 2 appreciate the parties' thoroughness in setting February 3 10, 2014 as the deadline for filing dispositivemotions, 

### 4 and I'mhappy to adopt it. I'm also happy to adopt the 5 February 24, 2014 deadline for filing answers to 6 dispositivemotions 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 onthosemotions, 10 and then to set the subsequent date for exchange of 11 witness lists and exhibits. And then, of course, 12 scheduling a hearingtime, I took a look atmy May 13 calendar, and I'mgoing to look at it again, because 14 these calendars sometimes change depending onparties who 15 settle. 16 Butmy last look atmy calendar for this case, 17 which was yesterday, showed no May dates available, and 18 that's exactlywhat it still showed today. I wouldbe 19 able to schedule this case for a hearing in June. Do you 20 have anyblack-out dates in June that you know ofnow 21 where you don't want anything scheduled? 22 MR. STEVENSON: I do not, Your Honor.1 Page 14 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And then, becauseMr. 2 Hunt has talkeda littlebit about Fort Lauderdale as 3 being a preferredvenue site overMiami, do youhave 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 withMr. Hunt that the 8 Fort Lauderdale airport is fine andno one shouldhave 

### 9 any -- either Fort Lauderdale orMiami. I don't think 10 anyone would have any difficulties arrangingtransit 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, andthen ifthere are problems for anyreason 15 in early 2014 with getting a courtroomin Fort 16 Lauderdale, I'll let you folks know and we can useMiami 17 as a back-up. 18 Anything else that we needto talkabout in 19 terms of scheduling, Mr. Stevenson, initially, before I 20 turnback to Mr. Hunt? 21 MR. STEVENSON: Well, the one is thatwe had

-- 22 I knew from the Liberty Foundation that Your Honor would1 

### 2 3 4 5 

### 6 7 8 

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### 10 Page 15 not have any availabilities 'tilMay or later, which is whywe 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 itmight be helpful to use that extra time to extend out some of the discovery periods that, ifMr. Hunt was amenable, rather than to give that an extramonth at the endwhere we're

-- you know-- everything's done but we'rejust waiting for the hearing. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Well, thatmaybe, but I just 11 needto make sure that I have enough time once I hear the 12 summaryjudgment argument to issue a summary judgment 13 decision, assuming one is filed. Prior to setting a due 

### 14 15 

### 16 17 18 

### 19 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'mhappy 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, letme turnbackto you. Are there any 22 blackout dates in June that you know of at this time forPage 16 1 hearing? 2 MR. HUNT: Not at this time. It looks like I 3 haven't reallyput anything in stone for June, so I'm 4 flexible at this point. 5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then I justwant to 

### 6 make sure that you understandthat once we set the 7 hearing, it's set --yourprimary calendaring

-- so that 8 you can schedule everything else around it. 

### 9 10 MR. HUNT: Absolutely. That's not a problem. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Excuseme. Okay. Let 11 me askyou a couple things. Do youhave 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 andDecember 18, 2013? 15 MR. HUNT: I don't have any necessity for that 16 at this point. I thinkthe schedule is laidout. Mr. 17 Stevenson and I haveboth reviewed the schedule as we put 18 it together, and I prettymuch concurwith it. So I 19 don't needto have any initial deadlines in that area. 20 No problem. 

### 21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thankyou. Then let's 22 talk about the actual hearing date. And I think ifwe1 

### 2 3 

### 4 5 

### 6 endup 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 earlyJune, we may be able to bump some of these discovery times out to pitch. So letme just goback to 7 my May calendar. Startingwith 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 itbe 14 acceptable for you to travel onMonday and try the case 15 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and travel backhome 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 shouldbe 22 okay.1 Page 18 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Thenwhat we'll do is 2 we'll set the matter to start on Tuesday, June 10, 2014. 3 We'll reconvene onWednesday, June 11, 2014, and we'll 4 conclude onThursday, June 12, 2014. And, typically, 5 folks, we start at 9 and go 'til 5 p.m. everyday. Just 6 so you know, I usually take anhour and 15minutes for 7 lunch so that people can leave the courthouse andwalk or 8 drive to a restaurant of their choice and then comeback 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 canplan on 13 that. And then we'll have Monday and Friday as travel 14 days for those of us who needto come in to town for the 15 hearing and for the witnesses who needtoplan 16 accordingly. 17 That havingbeen said, Mr. Stevenson, turning 18 backto you, how far in advance would you like to have an 19 exchange of the list ofwitnesses and exhibits from the 20 date of the first date of trial? 21 MR. STEVENSON: I don't have anyparticular 22 I guess I'musedto itbeing at least three weeksPage 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'mfine with longer thanthat as well. 4 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. It justdepends onwhat 5 theparties' 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 saythree. 8 So itjust depends on your general practice andwhat the 9 comfort level is with everybodytrying the case. So 10 three weeks is fine withme. 11 Mr. Hunt, do youhave a preference? 12 MR. HUNT: Not inparticular; three weeks is 13 fine for us, also. 14 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Because what I'mgoing 15 to do is I'mgoing to backtrack a littlebit now, and 16 thenwe can see howmuch

-- who should and canwe addto 

### 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 exchangedbyMay 16, 2014. And then I 20 shouldhavemy decision issued on any dispositivemotions 21 bythe 2nd ofMay or earlier, whichmeans we shouldhave 22 the

-- actually, I don't thinkwe're going to have tooPage 20 1 much time. 2 I needto checkwhen I'mgoing to be in the 3 office to schedule an oral argument on your summary 4 judgment. Startingwith you, Mr. Stevenson, can you 5 schedule a one and one-half hour telephone conference the 6 week ofMay 28th? And before I say that, I needto find 

### 7 out when Memorial Day is. 8 I'mokay. It's the week ofApril 28th, 2014. 9 That wouldbeApril 28, 2014 throughMay 2nd, 2014. 10 MR. STEVENSON: I do not have any conflicts 11 with that. The one thing I would note is I requested 12 becausewe're going to be in the Liberty Foundation, like 

### 13 possibly all week. So that it couldnot be on the 14 morning of the 28th, so I couldhave a little chance to 15 get situated, but other thanthat, I do not have any 16 conflicts that week. 

### 17 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Actually, I mayneedto bump 18 that up because of Liberty. And, Mr. Hunt, just so you 19 know, Mr. Stevenson has another case beforeme that's 20 scheduled for trial the week ofApril 21st. So let's go 21 back. What about the week ofApril 14 through 18th, Mr. 22 Stevenson? Would you have time during that week for a 1-Page 21 1 1/2 hour oral argument? 2 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor, I would ask if 3 we couldnot be earlyinthemorning onAshWednesday, 4 the 16th. 5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, wouldthe 6 week ofApril 14ththrough the 18thwork for you for a 1- 

### 7 1/2 hour telephonemotion conference? 8 MR. HUNT: Yes, YourHonor, that's fine. 

### 9 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Do youhave anypreference, 10 Mr. Hunt, for times during the day, or does itmatter? 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 wouldwork for me, Your

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. And, Mr. Hunt, was that 19 acceptable, as well? 20 21 MR. HUNT: Yes, Your Honor. That's fine. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Then that will be our summary 22 judgment/dispositivemotion time. And, folks, ifthere1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Page 22

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 anymatters that need tobe addressed. That being the case, we canprobablybump out the supplemental discovery timeline. Mr. Hunt, turning to you, would you ratherbump

out the deadline for completing general discovery, which is currently December 18, 2013, or do youjust want to expand the supplemental discoveryperiod? MR. HUNT: No, let's just expand the 11 supplemental. That's fine. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, is that acceptable to you, as well? MR. STEVENSON: I guess I haven't calculated howmuch time we'dbe playing with. All things being equal, I would actually suggest extending the general discovery, because that gives us a littlebitmore time

to play with

-- I was going to say a littlebitmore time

to play with scheduling depositions. Although now that I'm looking at it, extending the depositionperiod from December 18 through the end of Decemberprobably does not really add a lot of witness availability.1 2 3 4 5 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Yeah. MR. HUNT: No. JUDGE SULLIVAN: No. MR. STEVENSON: No. Page 23

JUDGE SULLIVAN: Well, let's do this. How 6 about if we do this? We can reset a littlebit the 7 deadlines for dispositive motions, and then we can decide 8 what we want to do withthat cushion of time that we 9 create. So I'mgoing to just take a look atmy calendar 10 11 12 13 14 

### 15 16 andmake some suggestions to you all. How about this? We can expand from February 10, 2014, the deadline for filing dispositivemotions almost a month to March 6, 2014. And then set the answer deadline toMarch 20, 2014, which is two weeks after, and then the deadline for filing a reply toApril 3, 2014. If we do that, that opens anothermonth for 17 potential discovery. 18 Mr. Stevenson, turning first to you in your 19 calendar, would the dates ofMarch 6, 2014, March 20, 20 2014, andApril 3, 2014, workwell for you in terms of 21 calendaring and actually doing that kind ofwrittenwork? 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 turnbackto 6 the expansion of the discovery timeperiod. You had 7 previouslyidentified a period of one month for 8 supplemental discovery. That wouldbebasicallybe 9 subsequent to depositions that hadbeen taken during 10 general discoveryperiod. 11 You had also identified, essentially, about two 12 weeks between the deadline for completing supplemental 13 discovery andthe deadline for filing dispositive 14 motions. We could, ifyou wantedto keep to that same 15 kind of timeframe, that supplemental discoveryto 16 conclude on February 20th to start on January 20th, and 17 thenbasicallytopush out the deadline for completing 18 general discovery to approximatelyJanuary 13, as opposed 19 to December 18. Orwe canjust keep the December 18, 20 2013, deadline for general discovery and openup the 21 supplemental discoverytime period. It just depends on 22 what you would like to do.1 2 Page 25 Mr. Stevenson, do youhave a preference? MR. STEVENSON: If I understood your 3 suggestions correctly, we wouldbe able to extendthe 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: February20th. 10 11 MR. STEVENSON:

-- February 20th. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Or you canhave supplemental 12 discovery closed February 13. Now itjust depends on how 13 much time you want to take toput together dispositive 14 motion after discovery is done. 15 MR. STEVENSON: Normally, I would want toput 16 some extra time into the general discovery, but I'mnot 17 sure howmuch that helps withthe holidays being around 18 that timeframe. And I thinkthere wouldbe 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 ifthere were going 22 to be any disputes about what that supplemental discoveryPage 26 1 was, havingmore time in the supplemental discovery 2 periodwould give us a chance to deal with that before we 3 got into writingdispositivemotions. 4 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. You wouldprefer to 5 keepthe December 18, 2013, general discoverydeadline 6 and openup the supplemental time? 7 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, either keep the December 8 18thor -- yeah. I thinkmay changing it from the 18th 9 to the 20th. I know that that's notmuch

-- an extra day 10 but I thinkthe 20thwill reallybe the last day that 11 I thinkthere's anypossibility of doing a deposition, 12 giventhe holiday seasons anywhere. 13 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Mr. Hunt, what do you 14 think of that proposal? Would itbe the 18thof 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 youpushedthe general 19 discoveryto 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 wouldbe a week in 22 there that we couldmaybe get the final things done forPage 27 1 the general depositions; but, eitherway, it doesn't 2 botherme. 3 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. I'll tell you. Based 4 onmy own experience I have found that people simply are 5 not available the last full week of December andthe 

### 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 happytime to tryto pull people into court for any 10 reason, for end of deposition. So I thinkthat a 11 December 20, 2013 deadline for general discovery and for 12 taking your depositions probably is goingtobe 13 practicallythe mostmeaningful period. 14 

### 15 MR. HUNT: Yeah. That works. That's fine. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Let's keep December 27th, 16 2013, as yourbeginning of asking for exchange of 17 supplemental discovery, andthen we'lljustmove January 18 27, 2014 to February 21, which is a Friday, 2014. That's 19 the deadline for completing it, andthat gives you a 20 littlebitmore leeway and it also gives you a littlebit 21 ofbreathingroombetween February 21, 2014, andMarch 6, 22 2014, which wouldb e the deadline for filing aPage 28 1 dispositivemotion. 2 Mr. Stevenson, does that work for you? 3 4 5 

### 6 7 8 MR. STEVENSON: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. AndMr. 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 shouldbe doing that. I'mnot

9 Mr. Stevenson, do you want to push that out a littlebit 10 farther into January? 11 MR. STEVENSON: Yes. I wouldbe okaywith 12 pushing that out. My main concern is that there is a 13 deadline for when those needto be issued so that it 14 doesn't go all the way until the end of the supplemental 15 discoveryperiod. That's not leaving anytime ifthere'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, YourHonor. 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, turningback to you, is there anything 5 else thatwe needto address for your client today in 6 terms of settingthe litigation schedule? 7 8 MR. STEVENSON: Not at this time, YourHonor. 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 filingmotions to compel, if you 17 haveproblems with discovery, how to set up a telephone 18 conference onmy calendar that's in addition towhat 19 we've already scheduled andhow tomark exhibits. 20 There's also information about attorneywithdrawal. 21 So, Mr. Hunt, ifyou decide that for whatever reason 22 are not going tobe representingthe respondent anymore,Page 30 1 youwouldneedto read through the attorneywithdrawal 2 section, which is under paragraph I as in igloo, and 3 complywith that before you withdraw. Andwithdrawal is 4 bymotion. It's not simply a letter tellingme you 5 decidedtojust get out. You have tomove for 6 permission. 7 There's also going to be an identification of 8 the attorneywho is working onthis case withme. He 9 probablyhad a chance to speakwith him alreadywiththe 10 conference call being somewhat delayedthis morning, but 11 it's Mr. Smith and that is actuallyhis 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 luckwith this case. As you 17 know, settlement discussions shouldbe considered in 18 addition to any litigationpreparation and discoverythat 19 you do that's part of taking care of the case. 20 If you settle all or part of the case, letme 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 themeantime, I will look forward 2 to talkingto you in 2014 onApril 15, 2014, from 1:30 to 3 3 p.m., either for argument on a dispositive motion or 4 series ofmotions, or as a prehearing status conference. 5 6 With that, it appears ourbusiness is complete. 7 We can go off the record. 8 (Whereupon, at 2:28p.m., the conference was 9 concluded.) 

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