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, with an average decision time of only 134 days from the last brief.
Naturally, there are many reasons why this might be the case, including the difficulty of holding argument on these motions—especially during the early days of the pandemic when it appeared the Court might reopen for in-person argument after only a slight delay. But those who hoped that a faster than normal ruling on their dispositive motions should plan accordingly.
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