Whether your business is considering bringing a lawsuit or preparing to defend against a lawsuit, you will likely want to know how long it takes to litigate a case. In a recent decision, In re Strickland, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit considered a plaintiff’s request that the Fourth Circuit order the trial court to provide an earlier trial date. The Fourth Circuit denied the request, saying such an order “would be entirely inappropriate” in light of every trial court’s discretion to manage its own docket and calendar. The case highlights two of the challenging realities of litigation: it takes time and the timelines are unpredictable. Every case is different. But the courts publish data showing how long various phases of litigation generally take, which gives at least some guidance. Here, we look at the recent data on the average timelines in North Carolina’s federal courts.
Background to the ‘Strickland’ Case
The plaintiff filed suit in March 2020 against her former employer, a federal Public Defender’s Office. The plaintiff alleged she was sexually harassed by a coworker and that the Office’s response to the harassment violated her constitutional rights. The case followed a meandering trajectory. The case went to the Fourth Circuit, then back to the trial court. Mediation failed in August 2023 and the court set trial for December 2023. The plaintiff asked the Fourth Circuit to order an earlier trial date.
