A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Congestion

Judge Andrews Sua Sponte Limits Number of Slides for Summary Judgment and Daubert Argument; a First?

Andrew E. Russell, Dec. 27, 2021
Case Management Congestion

I wonder when slides like these were last used in district court?
I wonder when slides like these were last used in district court? Jo Gala, Unsplash

Last week, in First Quality Tissue, LLC v. Irving Consumer Products Limited, C.A. No. 19-428-RGA (D. Del.), Judge Andrews issued the following order, apparently sua sponte:

ORAL ORDER: In connection with the argument currently scheduled for January 19, 2022 [regarding pending Daubert and summary judgment motions], the parties shall submit non-argumentative letters by January 4, 2022, specifying, in order of importance to the party, the issues they want to argue, with citations to where the relevant briefing can be found. The parties should not specify more than three issues each. At the argument, the total page limit for each sides …
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New Referral Orders: Magistrate Judge or Visiting Judge, Your Choice

Andrew E. Russell, Dec. 17, 2021
Judges Congestion

Yesterday, Chief Judge Connolly issued nearly identical oral orders across five cases, instituting a new procedure for referral of the case to a magistrate judge:

ORAL ORDER: On or before December 22, 2021, the parties shall either (1) submit to the Clerk of Court an executed Form AO 85 Notice, Consent, and Reference of a Civil Action to a Magistrate Judge, indicating their consent to have a United States Magistrate Judge conduct all proceedings in this case including trial, the entry of final judgment, and post-trial proceedings; or (2) a joint letter indicating that both parties do not consent to a reference of this action to a Magistrate Judge. The letter should not indicate which party or parties did not …
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Video From Judge Stark's Recent Appearance Before the Senate Judiciary Committee

Andrew E. Russell, Dec. 6, 2021
Fed. Cir. Congestion

As we've mentioned, Judge Stark has been nominated to the Federal Circuit. He had his nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. The full video is available on the Judiciary Committee web site: Link to Video.

In the video, Judge Stark's introduction by Delaware Senators Carper and Coons starts at 49:27, and Judge Stark himself appears at 1:04:42. The introductions are about 7 minutes long, and the questions run for about 30 minutes.

Some highlights about Judge Stark, mostly from the introductions:

  • 14 years on the bench
  • 6000 civil and criminal cases
  • 2400 patent cases
  • 93 trials (63 patent trials)
  • 2100 written opinions
  • Only 2% of his opinions reversed or affirmed with criticism

As …

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Judge Stark to Be Nominated for the Federal Circuit

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 3, 2021
Congestion Judges

Wilmington, <a href='#' class='abbreviation' data-bs-toggle='tooltip' data-placement='top' title='Delaware'>DE</a>
Wilmington, DE Andrew Russell, CC BY 2.0

Big news! The White House announced today that Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware is set to be nominated to the Federal Circuit.

Assuming he is confirmed, Judge Stark will actually be the second judge to be elevated to an appellate court from the District of Delaware in recent memory, following The Honorable Kent A. Jordan's elevation to the Third Circuit in 2006.

Congratulations to Judge Stark!

Another Judicial Vacancy? No problem.

Despite its enormous patent case load, the District of Delaware remains a small court, with just four district court judges (although the Judicial Conference …

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Two Judges Denied Requests to Reschedule Hearings Last Week: A Symptom of COVID Congestion, or Just Random?

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 1, 2021
Congestion COVID-19

Traffic Congestion
Randy Lisciarelli, Unsplash

It's not all that common for judges in the District of Delaware to deny requests to reschedule hearings. But last week we saw two requests denied. And, in both instances, the Court suggested that the party requesting cancellation should just have another attorney prepare for argument rather than rescheduling.

In one instance, Judge Andrews denied a request to reschedule a Markman hearing, stating that:

ORAL ORDER: The request to change the date of the Markman . . . is DENIED. Plaintiff has at least three non-Delaware lawyers. Simply because one of them has a trial scheduled on December 9th is not a reason to change the date of the Markman. There is plenty of time …
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Time to Decision on Motions Largely Unaffected by Lack of Trials

Nathan R. Hoeschen, July 31, 2020
Congestion COVID-19

Delaware suspended jury trials on March 18, 2020 and they are currently not scheduled to resume until the end of August. Although bench trials are technically allowed under this scheduling order,only one has taken place so far.

With this major time-sink gone, it struck IP/DE that we might see more opinions being issued faster. But so far this does not seem to be the case.

According to DocketNavigator, the Court issued 25 discrete opinions on 12(b)(6) motions between March 18th and last week (not counting decisions on objections to R&R's), with an average decision time of 164 days from the filing of the last brief. During the same period last year, however, the Court issued 32 such opinions, …

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