Update (May 7, 2015): It took 7 hours and 50 minutes of settlement conference but, in the end, sweet surrender…
Original post (April 9, 2015) (under headline: “Still more on slow death by civil litigation…”): You do not have the time to read the sad history of United States Sugars Corporation v. U.S. Sugar Co. (“Sugars v. Sugar”?) as recounted over the years on Minnesota Litigator (see (but do not read) here ). It’s yet another slow-motion train wreck.
I still have trouble getting my head around how the value of delay could possibly be more than the costs of litigation defense. I suppose we’ll never know how that analysis has played out. But I am sympathetic to all of the players in this litigation. As Minneapolis patent litigator Jake Holdreith told Minnesota Litigator readers recently about what makes the practice of civil litigation satisfying, “…I would urge my colleagues to do is to think deeply about our role as problem-solvers in our society and put that pretty high on the list of what our function is. That makes us more valuable and makes the job more rewarding.” The job is somewhat less rewarding when it simply seems to be a lengthy progression to a certain (and all too unsatisfactory) ultimate outcome.