Court Opinion

ID: 9496339
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:23:56.081619+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:30.644085
License: Public Domain

BEISTLINE, District Judge,
concurring.
Judge Kleinfeld’s dissent to the proposed consent decree is well reasoned and quite thorough. The issues he raises are significant and should be considered seriously by the parties as they continue their negotiations. There is certainly no assurance how the court would rule on the questions of first impression presented here nor is there any reason to believe that the Court would approve a final resolution that appeared on its face to be unfair or collusive or that failed to consider input from interested parties.
In the present case however the Court referred the parties to mediation and the parties have gone to great efforts to resolve the issues without further litigation. Whether they will ultimately succeed is uncertain for their challenge is not easy. In my view a delay to afford the parties more time to address their differences in this very unique situation will not lead to significant prejudice to either side and should not be viewed as a new procedure that the Court is inclined to follow in the future.