A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Emergency Motion

Emergency
Jason Leung, Unsplash

Generally Delaware counsel are downright accommodating when it comes to granting extension requests. One common refrain is that "if we don't grant it, they'll just move, and the Court will grant it."

Often that's true—I've seen multiple successful emergency motions to extend deadlines after opposing counsel unreasonably denied an extension. Typically these seek a short extension (a few days, or sometimes 30 days for a response to a complaint) and are backed by good reasons.

Uh Oh - An Emergency Extension Motion Fails

That's why I thought it was interesting to see an "emergency" attempt at extending a deadline fail, in Speyside Medical, LLC v. Medtronic Corevalve, LLC, C.A. No. 20-361-GBW-CJB (D. Del.). …

The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The Boy Who Cried Wolf Francis Barlow

Most Delaware attorneys tend to hesitate before filing an "emergency" motion, because they know how busy the Court is. The Court takes emergency motions seriously. It may defer work on other pressing issues to assist the parties with a true emergency.

I don't think anyone would want be standing before the judge (or on a conference call, or a video conference) explaining why they unnecessarily disturbed the Court's management of its docket.

Last week, Judge Connolly issued an opinion showing what may happen when a party files an unwarranted "emergency" motion.

In FinancialApps, LLC v. Envestnet, Inc., C.A. No. 19-1337-CFC-CJB (D. Del.), a trade secret and contract action, the Court …