No further news on April jury trials since our last update. The following two jury trials still appear to be set, with the first to start on Monday of next week:
- 4/5/2021: JHL Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. PuraCap Laboratories, LLC, C.A. No. 18-553-MN (D. Del.): The parties in this contract action just filed a letter indicating that they have made efforts at settlement, at Judge Noreika's request, but this case is still set to go forward as of now. The Court held the pretrial conference today.
- 4/26/2021: USA v. Tyshaun Blue, C.A. No. 20-63-RGA (D. Del.): No change; this case appears to be set to go later next month.
To my knowledge, if it goes forward next week, JHL will be the first post-pandemic jury trial in the District of Delaware (although please correct me if I'm wrong), not counting grand juries and the very short partial jury trial in the fall.
As a reminder—I've heard this was not obvious enough in our prior posts—the District of Delaware will only be holding one jury trial at a time due to pandemic considerations, because the Court currently only has one full courtroom set up for social distancing.
Until conditions ease, out of necessity, the Court may be slow to clear the backlog of jury trials.
Cancellations Continue
At least three more coronavirus-related cancellations occurred this month, all at the request of at least one party:
- 5/3/2021: Dasso Int’l., Inc. v. MOSO, C.A. No. 17-1574-RGA (D. Del.): This patent trial was postponed on 3/18, following a 3/17 letter from defendants citing coronavirus concerns. The Court did not set a new trial date.
- 5/10/2021: TC Technology LLC v. Sprint Corporation, C.A. No. 16-153-WCB (D. Del): This patent trial was continued indefinitely on 3/9 following a letter to the Court regarding coronavirus-related uncertainty.
- 5/17/2021: Amgen Inc. v. Hospira, Inc., C.A. No. 18-1064-CFC (D. Del.): This patent jury trial was rescheduled to September 21, 2021 following a joint letter from all parties expressing coronavirus concerns.
Two Trials Remain for May
It looks like there are some likely gaps in the May jury trial schedule due to cancellations. Here are the two remaining jury trials that I know of:
- 5/3/2021: Johnson-Krumm v. City of Seaford, C.A. No. 16-496-SB (D. Del.): This is a § 1983 action related to a drowning while fleeing from the police. It was initially assigned to Judge Sleet, then re-assigned to Judge Connolly, and it is now set to go to trial before Judge Stephanos Bibas of the Third Circuit, sitting by designation.
- 5/17/2021: In Re Chanbond, LLC Patent Litigation, C.A. 15-842-RGA (D. Del.): This patent litigation is currently scheduled, but the parties filed a status report mid-month in which the defendant objected to proceeding due to coronavirus issues (and other issues).
That's it for the moment. After that, the first week of June is still double booked:
- 6/1/2021: Bioverativ Inc. v. CSL Behring LLC, C.A. No. 17-914-RGA-SRF (D. Del.): This is a Judge Andrews patent trial, and so far it looks like it will go forward.
- 6/1/2021: Twin Spans Business Park, LLC v. Cincinnati Insurance Co., C.A. No. 19-476-RGA (D. Del.): This is a diversity action related to insurance, which was re-assigned from Judge Andrews to Judge Bibas of the Third Circuit. A joint status report is due this week regarding the June 1 trial.
Hopefully we'll start getting back to normal sometime soon, as the vaccines become more widely available.
Reminder to readers: Keep in mind that you can always see our most up-to-date posts about trial scheduling in Delaware under the Trial Calendar tag.
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