New Tactics & Risks for Litigators
On Monday, I laid out my Top 5 PTAB cases of 2019 for PTAB
Practitioners, focusing on those cases that changed day-to-day
practices before the agency. Like Monday’s list, my Top 5
PTAB developments of 2019 for District Court Litigators will focus
on those practical developments that will impact related litigation
practices outside of the agency.
In 2019, there were a number developments of interest to
litigators, from tricks to avoid the PTAB altogether, to new risks
on fee awards and estoppel.
5. Using the Court for PTAB Fodder Wont Play Well in Texas
(United Services Automobile Association v. Wells Fargo
Bank, N.A. (here))
Litigants beware; Judge Rodney Gilstrap (E.D. Texas) warned
litigants considered to be using the district court proceedings to
posture positions in co-pending CBM proceedings that '[t]he
Court does not countenance—in fact this Court is offended
by—the strategic use of an Article III Court to gain
