The Hon. Rip van Winkle

Reuters reports that a federal judge just issued a ruling on a request for attorney's fees after a bench trial . . . five years after a bench trial! Granted, there was a spat among three law firms regarding their respective shares, but still, that should be a record. The law firms were able to unite in trying to get a ruling and went over the district judge's head to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to ask for assistance. The 1st Circuit actually declined to do so, but the effort got the judge's attention, and he issued his 79-page order.

This kind of delay (if not quite 5 years) does happen, and clients will ask, “Can't you do something?" When it's a motion to be granted or denied, the risk is that pestering the court could prejudice your case. So, the advice is almost always to sit tight.

Georgia has a statute, O.C.G.A. sec. 15-6-21, that puts a 90-day deadline on judges to decide motions and provides that failure to do so is grounds for impeachment and removal from office. That's more honored in the breach than in the observance.