Exactly. The following is my opinion and speculation only - I am not an attorney and only qualified legal counsel should interpret legal rulings. Having provided that disclaimer; however, we now know they did not settle the case as we all expected them to, but instead proceeded with a bench trial. Unlike some previous comments have indicated, the trial portion of this case is now over. Finished. Ended. JNSH won a complete victory on the merits of the case. I cannot overstate how important that fact is. The amount of the upcoming monetary judgment must now be determined and then satisfied.
CCGI has lost control of the case and JNSH is now the driver of this as the aggrieved party. The only thing left to do now is to determine and/or rule on damages. In other words - to see how much money will JNSH be entitled to receive for all of their issues. That can include compensation for things such as: compensatory/tangible losses, loss of business opportunity, legal fees and the very scary legal monster known as punitive damages.
After this ruling, CCGI can still settle with JNSH prior to that final determination and after reading Bucklo's opinion, they are likely to do so. Bucklo shredded their defense and any intelligent attorney on either side of this case is probably thinking deep pockets and big bucks as a result. With one big caveat. Unlike the long and ponderous determination of fault that took place, the damages portion of a trial is much quicker.
Recall that this has been going on for over four years and has tied up the docket, the judge and a special magistrate all during that time. I am pretty sure they know the amount of money involved down to the penny by now, including interest. The goal of the court here is to restore JNSH to the place where they would be had the breach not occurred. All in all, a fantastic legal victory.
That my fiends, is what we are waiting for now - and that is all we are waiting for. CCGI can appeal, but usually a bond is required for the amount of the judgment to be posted prior to that and that gets CCGI nowhere. They do not have to settle, but if they fail to do so before the next ruling, the judgment will stand as entered. The onus is now on CCGI to end this thing. As it should be. In my opinion.
