Why do you fire an attorney at this moment of the case? In my opinion things go another direction as DUO etc want it to go. R. and G. better, cleverer and in the winning mood?
Wondering if this is a desperate measure to buy more time for the patent review proceeding or other legal deadline, by claiming they had to substitute counsel.
This will help their chances immensely for an appeal being granted if SFOR wins the decision in a few weeks. Definitely a preplanned time delay.
They probably just bought themselves 12 months. It won't slow down the process though. I've seen this happen before. I imagine it's common.
"Our first lawyer didn't know what was going on so we were misrepresented in this case and would like an appeal with a better lawyer."
Good sign though. Defendants don't like their chances right now, clearly, so they gave themselves a chance to drag this on. Probably figure that if they don't have to think about settlement talks for another 12 months then after that time SFOR will be willing to accept a lot less. SFOR will use the max amount from their 8k lender by then the way they've been spending money.