As a child, I was frequently frustrated by the differing rules that governed different houses. My house was a shoes-on place, while most of my friends houses were strict shoes in the bucket at the door affairs (this was the early 90s so carpet was the rule).
I was instructed to remove my shoes at their doors and respect the primacy of house rules. In other realms, a visiting child brought their own rules with them -- perhaps they would be allowed a later bedtime, additional snack, or the high privilege of a PG-13 movie -- indulgences normally forbidden in my house.
This is one of the many reasons I have always hated choice of laws, and will not write about it in the blog. I will also stealthily delete any Andrew posts on it and assume he won't notice.
Today's post deals with a different sort of visitor, and an interesting wrinkle that I had not considered before.
Rampart IC, LLC v. Egg Medical, Inc., C.A. No. 24-643-JCG (D. Del. Jan. 17, 2025) was assigned to visiting judge Choe-Groves from the Court of International Trade. The defendant, Egg, was a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Minnesota (probably carpeted). They moved to transfer the case back to balmy Minneapolis.
One of the Jumara factors that govern transfer in the Third Circuit is the relative congestion in each fora. Typically, this factor favors transfer because Delaware Judges have among the highest (or often the highest) weighted caseloads in the nation.
In denying the motion, however, Judge Choe-Groves noted that this analysis was somewhat different in cases assigned to a visiting judge:
Egg Medical is correct that the weighted filings per judge are greater in Delaware than in Minnesota, but this factor is offset by the fact that this case has been assigned to a visiting judge with a smaller district court docket than the active judges in the District of Delaware.
This Court, sitting by designation from the United States Court of International Trade, has a less congested docket than both the District of Delaware and the District of Minnesota. This factor weighs slightly against transfer.
Id. at 12-13 (cleaned up).
Given that Delaware still has a relatively large number of cases assigned to visiting judges, I would not be surprised to see this case cited in the future.
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