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Entries for tag: DED

District of Delaware Moves All Sept. 25-26 Filing and Service Obligations To Make Room for D. Del. Bench and Bar

Andrew E. Russell, Jan. 14, 2025
Bench and Bar DED

Bench
Simon Berger, Unsplash

The District of Delaware's 2025 Bench and Bar is set for September 25-26, 2025. Yesterday, as we predicted, the Court issued an order moving all filing and service deadlines for those days to the following Monday, and directing the Court not to set deadlines on those days:

WHEREAS, the Court having announced that it will host its biennial District of Delaware Bench and Bar Conference on September 25 and 26, 2025, and the Court wishing to promote the participation of as many members of the Bar as possible;
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that all members of the court - District, Magistrate, and Bankruptcy Judges - will, to the greatest extent possible, cancel and refrain …
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Updates: New Federal Rules in Effect, JUDGES Act in Trouble, Chancellor McCormick Active on LinkedIn (with Briefing Tips!), and More

Andrew E. Russell, Dec. 13, 2024
FRE 107 DED

I have no image for this. Here are some turtles that live just across the PA/DE border, in Chadds Ford, PA (presumably for the public schools).
I have no image for this. Here are some turtles that live just across the PA/DE border, in Chadds Ford, PA (presumably for the public schools). Andrew E. Russell, displayed with permission

There were a few interesting notes this week that didn't quite warrant their own posts, so here is a combined update. We should really be on X / Twitter / Bluesky / Trends or something—I'm not sure any of these updates really warrant more than 140 characters. But here you go:

  • As the Court pointed out last week, the new 2024 Federal Rules went into effect on December 1. It looks like the changes to the FRCP are not significant, but there are some interesting changes to the Rules of Evidence, including a brand new Rule 107. We've already discussed that rule, but in short, it renames "demonstratives" to "illustrative aids" and says that "[w]hen practicable, an illustrative aid used at trial must be entered into the record." The new rules have other changes as well, including nice clarifications to FRE 1006.
  • The Associate Press reported yesterday that the JUDGES Act, which would add two new D. Del. judges, is in peril and facing a veto threat. Please keep it in your thoughts...
  • Chancellor McCormick, chief judicial officer of the Delaware Court of Chancery, is active on LinkedIn. She recently shared helpful briefing tips, including about overuse of acronyms and that you should use non-breaking spaces.
  • Delaware recently announced new CLE rules, complete with a handy explanatory document. Beware—it looks like, under the new rules, Delaware attorneys now will be fined immediately if your CLE credits aren't completed by December 31 of your compliance year and reported by January 10 of the following year. No more makeup plans! There is a transition period for this year where the dates are a bit different.
  • The Delaware FBA announced last week that Delaware Bench & Bar conference will be September 25-26, 2025. Mark your calendars, and remember that the Court sometimes issues an order bumping any filing or service deadlines that are set for those days.
  • Judge Albright of the Western District of Texas has confirmed that he is moving from Waco to Austin, pending 5th Circuit sign-off. Law360 also reports that he named his dog Mandamus, which is awesome.
  • The District of Delaware's website, like many other courts across the country, added a warning recently about fake notices of electronic filing ("NEFs") that have malicious links. Sadly I can't seem to find any more detail on this, such as what to look for. Be careful out there!
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Have Patent Case Referrals to Visiting Judges Slowed?

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 4, 2024
Congestion DED

ChatGPT comes through again...
ChatGPT comes through again... AI-Generated, displayed with permission

At the FCBA's 2024 Bench and Bar, some of the speakers mentioned that referrals to visiting judges referrals to should be slowing. I've noticed that that seems to be correct — it feels like there have been fewer referrals to visiting judges lately.

Some basic Docket Navigator searches seem to confirm it. I found zero new referrals to visiting judges in the last three months (not counting related-case referrals). That's the longest gap we've had this year, after batches of visiting referrals in January, February, April, July, and on August 1. But Docket Navigator also says that there were even longer gaps last year, including one from January - May and another …

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Notes from the FCBA's 2024 Delaware Bench and Bar: Two New D. Del. Judgeships Incoming?

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 20, 2024
DED

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

I attended the 2024 Delaware Regional Federal Circuit Bench and Bar today. It was a great program with many judges speaking on panels, plus an interview with Judge Dyk of the Federal Circuit and remarks by Senator Chris Coons. Here are some notes about interesting points from the conference, in case you missed it.

New Judges for the District of Delaware

Of particular interest to District of Delaware attorneys (and litigants) is the great news about two potential new judges. Senator Coons relayed the news—which we here at IP/DE had not picked up on—that the U.S. Senate has unanimously approved the JUDGES act …

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D. Del.'s New Magistrate Judge Announced!

Andrew E. Russell, July 8, 2024
Congestion Judges

District Court Seal

We heard from the Court last week that it has selected a new magistrate judge for the District of Delaware: Eleanor G. Tennyson.

The announcement describes her background:

The United States District Court for the District of Delaware is pleased to announce its selection of Eleanor G. Tennyson as a United States Magistrate Judge. Ms. Tennyson fills the position vacated by Judge Jennifer Hall upon Judge Hall’s elevation to the District Court.
Ms. Tennyson is an honors graduate of Grinnell College and received her master’s degree in chemistry from the Clemson University Graduate School of Chemistry. Ms. Tennyson earned her law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law where she was managing editor of the Iowa Law Review. …
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The Hunter Biden Trial Begins Monday 6/3: Beware of Courthouse Access Issues! Also, Press Coalition Challenges Viewing Restrictions

Andrew E. Russell, May 31, 2024
DED

Line
AI-Generated, displayed with permission

Heads up! As the Court described in a public notice last week, the Hunter Biden criminal trial starts on Monday 6/3.

Just reading the notice, you can tell that the Court (unsurprisingly) expects quite a lot of people to be there. It is setting up the 3rd floor jury assembly room as an overflow room, and is not permitting reporters in the courtroom during jury selection:

Members of the public and media may not be present in the courtroom for jury selection but may listen to those proceedings from the overflow room (3rd Floor Jury Assembly Room).
Courtroom seating for . . . the portions of the trial other than jury selection will be on a …
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The Court Has Started Re-Assigning Cases to Incoming Judge Hall

Andrew E. Russell, Jan. 8, 2024
Nomination Congestion

District Court Seal

We mentioned back in October that Judge Hall was confirmed to the District of Delaware. Today, the Court started re-assigning cases from existing judges to Judge Hall. These arrive as a simple one-sentence docket entry:

Case Reassigned to Judge Jennifer L. Hall. Please include the initials of the Judge (JLH) after the case number on all documents filed.

The re-assignments involve cases at multiple stages, including past the close of fact discovery, and cases where Judge Hall was not previously involved as a magistrate judge.

One common question I see is "why did our case get re-assigned"? We can all speculate, but I'm not sure it's safe to read anything into a re-assignment like this beyond "our case was re-assigned …

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Do You Want to Be a D. Del. Magistrate Judge?

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 17, 2023
Congestion DED

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

The District of Delaware is looking for its next magistrate judge!

The formal requirements to become a magistrate judge, as set forth in the announcement, are actually fairly easy to meet:

To be qualified for appointment an applicant must
(1) Be, and have been for at least five years, a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands of the United States, and have been engaged in the active practice …
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Can You Rely on the Due Date in the Docket Text on PACER? No.

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 30, 2023
CM/ECF DED

AI
Markus Winkler, Unsplash

An order on Friday reminded me of a local counsel issue that comes up from time to time here in D. Del.

Whenever a party files a motion or a brief, the docket on PACER automatically includes a due date, like so:

312 OPENING BRIEF in Support re 311 MOTION to Amend Judgment, filed by ViaTech Technologies Inc..Answering Brief/Response due date per Local Rules is 11/8/2023. (Mayo, Andrew) . . . (Entered: 10/25/2023)

ViaTech Technologies, Inc. v. Adobe Inc., C.A. No. 20-358-RGA-JLH (D. Del. Oct. 25, 2023).

The docket text is not perfectly clear, but that due date is automatically generated based on a set of rules in PACER (that are …

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Notes from the 2023 D. Del. Bench and Bar (Part 2)

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 25, 2023
Bench and Bar DED

I was not expecting book recommendations—fiction and non-fiction—from the conference!
I was not expecting book recommendations—fiction and non-fiction—from the conference! saracohenn, Unsplash

Following up on our post last week, here is part 2 of our notes about the District of Delaware Bench and Bar. As we mentioned, these are all without attribution under the Chatham House Rule, and we won't be discussing any specific panels:

Magistrate Judge Tips

  • For discovery disputes, judges want to see what the moving party wants, why, and what law or regulation justifies the request.
  • The party opposing a discovery dispute should focus on the real reason for opposing the request
  • The court appreciates honesty and the parties having some level of restraint in arguing discovery disputes
  • Timing of discovery dispute motions is important. …
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