United States v. Sierra Pacific Industries

*953 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

After reaching a settlement with the government and requesting the court to enter judgment pursuant to that settlement almost two years ago, defendants Sierra Pacific Industries, Howell’s Forest Harvesting Company, and fifteen individuals and/or trusts who own land in the Sierra Nevada mountains (referred to collectively as “defendants”) now move to set aside that judgment based upon “fraud on the court.”

I. Brief Factual and Procedural Background

On September 3, 2007, a fire ignited on private property near the Plumas National Forest. The fire, which became known as the Moonlight Fire, burned for over two weeks and ultimately spread to 46,000 acres of the Plumas and Lassen National Forests. The day after the fire started, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (“Cal Fire”) investigator Joshua White and United States Forest Service (“USFS”) investigator David Reynolds sought to determine the cause of the fire. As a result of the joint investigation, Cal Fire and the USFS ultimately issued the “Origin and Cause Investigation Report, Moonlight Fire” (“Joint Report”). The Joint Report concluded that the Moonlight Fire was caused by a rock…