The general length of an average wrongful termination case in Orange County is two to four weeks. During this time, the parties are required to prepare their cases on the court's schedule. The court will, for example, set discovery deadlines, status conferences, a pre-trial conference and of course, a trial date. In such cases, the defendant brings a motion for non-suit at the conclusion of the plaintiff's case. The Appeal .
Appeal is almost a certainty if the verdict is substantial or if the employee recovers nothing.
Appeals are also filed tactically to position a case for eventual settlement before the appeal is actually heard. Appellate law is strict that notice of appeal must be timely filed, and the Appellant's brief is to be filed within 30 days of the Clerk's filing of the Record on Appeal. I have had cases delayed for nearly a year because the Court Reporter at the trial would not complete the Reporter's Transcript within the time required by law. Likewise, these strict time lines seem to collapse once the record and the briefs have been completed. The parties often wait one to two years, sometimes more, to have the case decided by the Court of Appeal.