OFNER v. USA

Filing 6

Order dismissing plaintiff's claims. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment. Signed by Judge Marian Blank Horn. (dls) Copy to parties.

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GREGORY P, OFNER,

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Plaintiff,

FEDERALCN.Affi

v,

No.124214C
Filed: March 3, 2015

UNITED STATES,

Defendant.

ORDER
Plaintiff is one of twelve current or former employees of the United States
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, employed in the Los Padres National Forest
in California, who filed a complaint on January 19, 2012, to recover $2,500,000.00 in
damages. The complaint brought by these plaintiffs was filed in the United States
District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of the plaintiffs by counsel.
Subsequently, however, plaintiffs filed a stipulation of dismissal in that court, and the
District Court dismissed the complaint, without prejudice. See Casey D. Allen, et al.. v.
Ed Schafer. et al., No. 08-8391 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 8, 2009). When plaintiffs filed their
compfaint in the United States Court of Federal Claims on January 19,2012, they were
represented by different counsel. Plaintiffs' original attorney of record in this court was
Michael D. Daniels. Subsequently, Bennett Rolfe, who was one of the original attorneys
in the Dishict Court case, replaced Mr. Daniels as plaintiffs' counsel. After Mr. Rolfe
passed away, certain plaintiffs filed motions to represent themselves pro se, which the
court granted, continuing their cases pursuant to the initial complaint filed by the
plaintiffs in this court.
On October 7,2013, the court consolidated plaintiff's case with the eleven other
pro se plaintiffs. After consolation, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss count two in
plaintiffs' complaint, plaintiffs' breach of contract claims. On January 22,2015, this court
issued an opinion in the above captioned cases dismissing count two in plaintiffs'
complaint, plaintiffs' breach of contract claims. On February 4,2015, the court issued an
order instructing:
each plaintiff shall file with the court, and send copies to the defendant, a
notice indicating whether or not each such individual wishes to proceed
with count one of their complaint, the Fifth Amendment takings claims.
The notice shall be filed on or before Friday, February 20,2015. Plaintiffs
may consult private counsel or continue to proceed pro se, which is
currently their status in the cases filed in this court. Plaintiffs also may

confer with counsel of record for the defendant prior to filing their notice of
whether or not they intend to proceed with their case. Although this court
order requires either a positive or negative notice of intent to proceed to
be filed by each plaintiff, failure to file in a timely manner will be
understood by the court as indication that the individual does not wish to
oroceed and that the plaintiff's case should be dismissed.

As of March 3, 2015, plaintiff has not filed a notice with the court. Therefore,
plaintiff's claims are DISMISSED. The Clerk's Office shall enter JUDGMENT consistent
with this Order.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

ARIAN BLANK HORN
Judge