I wrote last week about how December tends to be a fairly dull month for litigators, with the many holidays cutting into time that would normally be spent squabbling amongst ourselves and submitting mountains of paper for the Court's seasonal enjoyment.
But of course, there are always exceptions. Take, for instance, Harmony Biosciences, LLC et al v. Lupin Limited, C.A. No. 23-1286-JLH-SRF. As discovery closed in that case, the parties had raised about half a dozen discovery disputes in 60 days. The Court had already decided two such disputes in December.
Add Dauberts on top ff all this and things were pretty busy all around.
Perhaps because of this history, things went a bit differently when the parties filed their last discovery dispute request on December 16. Rather than allow the request to sit until after the holidays, the Court issued an oral order only a few hours after the motion was filed:
All lead and local counsel identified in the parties' Joint Motion shall be required to appear in person in Courtroom 6C on December 22, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. The parties shall meet and confer for one hour before the court takes the bench at 10:00 a.m. In preparation for this hearing the parties shall follow the Discovery Matters and Disputes procedure as set forth in the Order regarding discovery matters available at www.ded.uscourts.gov/judge/magistrate-judge-sherry-r-fallon. Plaintiffs' opening letter submission shall be due by no later than 11:00 a.m. on December 17, 2025. AET's responsive letter submission shall be due by no later than 11:00 a.m. on December 18, 2025.
Harmony Biosciences, LLC et al v. Lupin Limited, C.A. No. 23-1286-JLH-SRF, D.I. 456 (D. Del. Dec. 16, 2025) (Oral Order).
You read that right, the opening letter was due on 11:00 the very next day (today in fact) and the answering letter was due just a day after that. Then, everyone had to get their butts to Wilmington on the day before Christmas Eve for a 9:00AM meet and confer before the hearing.
Only time will tell if this case sees any more discovery disputes, but my money is on "no".
If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to receive free e-mail updates about new posts.
