It took Judge Lewis Kaplan less than three months to write a 500-page trial opinion on what is commonly construed as the litigation fraud of the century. But the people of Ecuador and lawyers of the world have been awaiting the appeal in the case Chevron v. Donziger for two years and three months. While the judges dallied, oil prices crashed, Chevron went though two layoffs, and the embattled plaintiffs lawyer Steven Donziger lent his press secretary to the mayor of New York. Remarkably, a trio of major pending or recent global decisions have taken even longer. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is rapidly emerging as the “non-rocket docket” to the world. As Frank Sinatra almost said: If you can make it here, you can wait three years to disposition.
The median time from filing to ruling in the U.S. circuit courts in 2015 was 8.6 months. Thai-Lao Lignite v. Laos has been pending 29 months, and Commisa v. Pemex over 32. It took over 31 months from the Arab Bank alien tort appeal until the denial of in banc rehearing this May.
