Following Judge Stark's nomination to the Federal Circuit and subsequent smooth appearance before the Judiciary Committee, we've all begun to wonder when he would begin unloading his pending cases.
Well wonder no more!
On Tuesday, Judge Stark issued the following oral order in 360Heros, Inc. v. GoPro, Inc., C.A. No. 17-1302-LPS, D.I. 260 (D. Del. Jan. 18, 2022):
Having reviewed the parties' letter relating to the jury trial currently scheduled to begin on March 7 . . . IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the trial is CONTINUED to a date to be determined. The parties are advised that in advance of trial, likely sometime in February, this case will be reassigned to a visiting judge. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties shall meet and confer and, no later than January 25, submit a joint status report indicating their (i) current assessment of the number of hours they will be requesting for trial and (ii) their availability for trial in the months of April, May, and June 2022
As noted in the Order, the case was scheduled for trial in March, and the parties had recently filed a joint letter "seek[ing] to better understand whether [Judge Stark] plan[s] to preside over the trial in March or to reassign the matter" "in light of [Judge Stark's] nomination to the Federal Circuit." Id., D.I. 259.
Given that the Order did not suggest that 360Heros was any different from Judge Stark's other pending cases, I'd expect to see quite a few similar orders come through in the near future, and I would not get overly attached to any Stark trial date later than March 7th.
If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to receive free e-mail updates about new posts.
