The United States District Court for the District of Delaware today announced a new procedure for the assignment of cases to visiting judges in light of the District’s two District Judge vacancies. The Court’s announcement includes the following key points:
1. The Clerk of Court will immediately start reassigning a portion of Senior Judge Robinson’s cases to a visiting judge, with the majority of the remainder of her cases to be reassigned once she retires in July.
2. All new civil cases will continue to be assigned to Chief Judge Stark, Judge Andrews, Senior Judge Sleet, and the Vacant Judgeship docket.
3. Cases assigned to the Vacant Judgeship docket will continue to be automatically assigned to one of the three D. Del. magistrate judges. Once a “case-dispositive” matter arises, however, the case will be considered ready for reassignment to a visiting judge. A “case-dispositive” matter is, for example, a motion to dismiss, motion for judgment on the pleadings, motion for summary judgment, or initiation of the claim construction process.
4. The current roster of visiting judges is as follows:
∙ Judge Mitchell Goldberg of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
∙ Judge Gerald McHugh of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
∙ Judge Mark Kearney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
∙ Senior Judge Eduardo Robreno of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
5. In addition, Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Kent A. Jordan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will preside over certain D. Del. cases.
Read the full announcement here.
Delaware IP Law Blog 