Anchor Estates, Inc. v. United States

11 Cl. Ct. 578, 1987 U.S. Claims LEXIS 18
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 11, 1987
DocketNos. 228-81L, 229-81L
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 11 Cl. Ct. 578 (Anchor Estates, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anchor Estates, Inc. v. United States, 11 Cl. Ct. 578, 1987 U.S. Claims LEXIS 18 (cc 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

YOCK, Judge.

These two consolidated inverse condemnation cases are before the Court on defendant’s motion to dismiss for plaintiffs’ failure to comply with the Court’s order to compel discovery and for failure to prosecute. For the reasons discussed herein, defendant’s motion is granted and the two cases are to be dismissed.

Background

On April 13, 1981, plaintiffs filed a complaint in the United States Court of Claims seeking just compensation for the alleged taking of their land by the United States. [579]*579Plaintiffs claim that their land was taken by inverse condemnation as a result of the “frequent and recurring flooding [of their land, caused by] * * * the defendant’s control of the flow of the Missouri River through dams, particularly the Garrison Dam and the Oahe Dam.” Plaintiffs also claim a taking based on erosion and groundwater inundation caused by the defendant’s control of the Missouri River flow. Defendant filed its answers in these cases on September 10, 1981.

Almost from the beginning, the parties have had difficulty with each other in conducting voluntary discovery, and have had to invoke the Court’s intervention. For instance, on October 29, 1982, the defendant filed a motion to compel answers to its first set of interrogatories. After a review of the defendant’s contentions in that motion, the Court found that the plaintiffs had, in fact, answered the interrogatories in an evasive and incomplete manner and thus granted the defendant’s motion to compel on November 18, 1982. Likewise on April 18, 1983, the plaintiffs filed a motion to compel answers to their first set of interrogatories. Since the plaintiffs were asking for water project studies that had not yet been completed by the Government, the Court denied the plaintiffs’ motion based on the defendant invoking the deliberative process privilege. The Court noted, however, that the defendant did provide the plaintiffs with all the factual data underpinning the various water project studies at issue even though the opinions and recommendations would not be provided until after the projects were finalized by the Government.

Eventually, however, the defendant felt that it had conducted enough discovery to file a motion for summary judgment, which it did on June 4, 1985. After an extensive review of the briefings and other evidentiary matters submitted, the Court denied the defendant’s motion because it believed that disputed issues of material fact were still present and that the matter could benefit from further ventilation at trial. Anchor Estates, Inc. v. United States, 9 Cl.Ct. 618 (1986). However, the Court took note of the lengthy and contentious discovery history of this case and ordered the parties to get into high gear. In its opinion of March 20, 1986, the Court concluded:

For the reasons stated in the opinion, the Court denies the defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
Having denied the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, the Court notes that this matter has been on its docket since April 13, 1981, some five long years. Thus, the parties have had ample and sufficient time to complete discovery and prepare for trial on all issues of liability and damages. This being the case, the Court hereby orders:
(1) the parties shall complete all loose-end discovery on or before June 23, 1986, and will file a status report on or before that date;
(2) a pretrial conference is scheduled for July 2Jt, 1986, to be held at the National Courts Building, Washington, D.C.;
(3) trial is set to commence on Tuesday, September 9, 1986 in Bismarck, North Dakota.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Anchor Estates, Inc. v. United States, supra, 9 Cl.Ct. at 622 (emphasis added).

Following the Court’s opinion and order, the defendant on April 14, 1986, filed a motion to change the date scheduled for trial from September 9, 1986 until October 6, 1986 since one of the defendant’s expert witnesses would be unavailable to testify during the September time frame. There being no objection by the plaintiffs, the Court allowed the motion on May 19, 1986 and reset the trial for October 6, 1986.

On June 23, 1986, the defendant, as ordered, filed a status report which in pertinent part stated:

On May 27, 1986, defendant served its Third Set of Interrogatories to plaintiffs, pursuant to this Court’s March 20, 1986, Order that all discovery must be completed by June 23, 1986. Plaintiffs have not yet responded to that discovery. Plaintiffs have served no further discovery.
[580]*580The United States is prepared to proceed with trial as scheduled, on October 6, 1986.

Also on June 23,1986, the plaintiffs filed their status report along with a motion for a protective order. The status report stated in pertinent part:

With the exception of the Defendant’s tardy Third Set of Interrogatories and Plaintiff’s Motion for Protective Order, the case is ready for trial on or after the date set by the Court (September 9th, 1986).

The plaintiffs’ counsel also indicated therein that he would have to review certain documents generated by the defendant’s expert witnesses “in order to prepare for cross-examination.”

The plaintiffs’ motion for protective order requested the Court to quash the defendant’s outstanding request for information set out in its third set of interrogatories. The plaintiffs’ position was that the interrogatories were served on May 27, 1986 and since all discovery was to be completed by June 23, 1986, it could not complete the answers in time to be within the Court’s designated discovery cutoff date since only 27 days remained. The plaintiffs noted that Rule 33(a) of the United States Claims Court provided for answers to be served within 30 days.

On July 8, 1986, the Court issued its order which, among other things, extended the parties’ discovery period from June 23, 1986 to August 22, 1986, with status reports due on that date, and thereafter denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a protective order as moot. Thus, the plaintiffs were implicitly ordered to answer the defendant’s third set of interrogatories. In addition, the parties were asked to confer and come up with a mutually acceptable date for a final pretrial conference in late August or early September. The Court again reiterated its earlier order scheduling the trial to commence on October 6, 1986 in Bismarck.

After receiving the pertinent information from the parties, the Court by order dated August 5, 1986, set the final pretrial conference date in this matter for September 9, 1986 in Washington, D.C.

On August 22, 1986, the defendant filed its status report as ordered, in which it stated that the parties had met on August 19 in Omaha, Nebraska and agreed to a stipulation which would be presented to the Court at the pretrial conference. No further alarm was sounded. However, on August 26, 1986, the defendant filed a supplement to its status report of August 22, 1986, in which it brought to the attention of the Court the plaintiffs' newly disclosed intention to employ expert witnesses. The supplement in pertinent part concluded:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Griffin & Dickson v. United States
35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,627 (Court of Claims, 1989)
Lemelson v. United States
14 Cl. Ct. 318 (Court of Claims, 1988)
Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc. v. United States
34 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,416 (Court of Claims, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Cl. Ct. 578, 1987 U.S. Claims LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anchor-estates-inc-v-united-states-cc-1987.