We represent defendant Philip Morris, Incorporated in the above-referenced case [Sklaroff v. PM, Inc.].  We have just received the Court's December 16, 1999 order denying plaintiff Dr. Robert Sklaroff's Motion for Reconsideration and Motion to Supplement the Record.  On December 16, 1999, we wrote to Dr. Sklaroff  to inform him that we had not received a service copy of his Motion for Reconsideration, and we sent the Court a copy of our letter.  I am now writing to informt he Court that we have today discovered that, contrary to what we believed at the time we sent the letter, Dr. Sklaroff did in fact serve Philip Morris with a copy of his Motion for Reconsideration at the time he filed it.

As you know, the court sustained Philip Morris's Preliminary Objections on November 10, 1999.  Dr. Sklaroff filed his Motion for Reconsideration on November 22, 1999.  However, due to a problem with the distribution system in our office, the attorneys working on this case did not receive Dr. Sklaroff's service copy.  In the meantime, we mistakenly assumed that Dr. Sklaroff had not served Philip Morris with the Motion, and we informed him of this in our December 16, 1999 letter.  Dr. Sklaroff promptly faxed us a copy the the next day.

Just today, we located the original service copy of the Motion for Reconsideration.  I immediately telephoned Dr. Sklaroff to apologize to him.  Dr. Sklaroff very graciously agreed that, not withstanding our mistake about service, Philip Morris could have an extension of time [one month] to respond to the Motion.  I had just prepared a letter to the Court to inform you of this when we received the Court's December 16, 1999 order denying the Motion for Reconsideration and the Motion to Supplement the Record [which I have yet to receive, by the way].

Although the court has already made a decision on Dr. Sklaroff's Motion for Reconsideration, we believe that the Court should know that Dr. Sklaroff did, indeed, serve Philp Morris with a copy of that Motion.

Respectfully submitted,

Aline Fairweather

cc:  Dr. Robert B. Sklaroff (via facimile and first class mail)