Wireless and all
The point of no return will take place on Jan. 28-29, 2003. The judge has stated that she will address the following:
1. She will rule on any and all open motions. This will include the motions in limine which will be voluminous and hotly contested in this case.
2. She will rule on the final charge to the jury, including Markman claims construction and the interrogs or special issues that the jury will be asked to answer in formulating their verdict.
3. She will approve the subject matter and questions that comprise the voir dire of the jury.
4. She will address the admissibility of all proposed trial exhibits.
5. She will go over the opening statements and the length of time given to each side to accomplish same.
6. She will address the list of witnesses and go over any objections. She may set a number of witnesses that each party may call for live testimony.
7. She will rule on Daubert objections with regard to the expert witnesses of both sides. These objections are based on a laundry list of matters that were handed down in the Daubert case that would disqualify an expert from testifying at trial.
8. She will assess the amount of time she will allow for each side to present their case. This is a large case with many issues and she will try to narrow matters through admissions and stipulations as best she can.
9. She will address the length of time each side will have on final argument.
10. She will discuss where the parties are with respect to settlement and apply as much pressure as she can to extract a settlement. She will go over the trial briefs of the parties and give her opinion of the case before trial and how she views matters with respect to the issues to be tried. I do not think she hold anything back in order to move this case off her docket.
11. Ericy may or may not make a recusal motion. I doubt that they will, but if it happens we may see a delay.
Additionally, if the issues cannot be narrowed via rulings, stipulations and admissions, the length of this case could be quite long. If this occurs, she may opt to move this case from February 10th. She is not going to care if we have live options on the line. She has the exclusive power to run her court as she sees fit and to clear her docket as expediently as possible. She is well aware that this case is old and a few more months of delay will not due harm to either party. If other cases are narrowed down to a few key issues, she may entertain them and send the parties back to mediation for settlement or further issue narrowing with a preferential trial setting in the near future. Finally, she may tell the parties to be there on Feb 10th ready to voir dire the jury and that will mark the point of no return.
She has been holding the parties' feet to the fire since she took the file from Judge Sanders and I believe that she intends to get rid of this case via settlement or trial as scheduled. However, nothing is set in stone that it will go as scheduled. Please be advised that if you call the clerk, she will tell you that the case will go as scheduled. She is trained to do so because she is trying to help the judge move the docket. Attorneys are always looking for an out around trial time because of the massive amount of work involved in trial preparation. Clients also know the meter runs rampant during trial preparation. Thus, judges train their personnel to tell every inquirer that their case is going as scheduled in order to extract settlement negotiations and hold those feet to the fire. It is very hard to plan investment strategies based on a first trial setting. You just have to trust your judgment and remain strong in your convictions and beliefs regarding IDCC. I cannot fault anyone who is feeling a little queezy and/or hedging their position at this time. I have prepared to go the distance as brilliant or foolish as that may turn out. I wish everyone on this board the best of luck regardless of whether we have agreed or disagreed on issues over the past 3 years. We have all had our good days and bad days, but in the end we are still rooting on the same outcome. As Teecee stated, the experience has been worth a lot.
JK will be able to enlighten us further over the weekend as to the history of prior dealings between the parties. I look forward to his fine work. He is very thorough and very impartial in his reporting. He is a very credible and valuable member of this board. I know that we all appreciate what he provides for us.
MO
loop
AI
