There has been a lot of conjecture about what is really going on with the delay. Are negotiations only about document sharing, or are there actual settlement talks with the EC? There are several people who I greatly respect making the point for each scenario. I think there are at least some preliminary settlement negotiations, maybe just a possible framework for an eventual settlement, or Rosen wouldn’t have made that statement in court.
My immediate reaction is that Rosen is a snake who can not be believed and he is not going to enter into meaningful negotiations with the EC. Yet, what does he gain by this charade in court today where he inferred that meaningful talks are going on? Surely he understands that THJMW is not a fool and as long a the DS is postponed and the question of the examiner is still on the July 8 docket, what does he gain by stalling? We have been going on for over 20 months and he gets an additional 3 weeks to do what? He is not going to get the DS approved because that is on hold. He stated that there might be a new POR if the negotiations were fruitful which to me means that there is some settlement negotiations going on. The fact that Nelson was less than enthused gives us a look at the way the EC views the odds on a successful conclusion to these negotiations. Still Rosen is betting he can come up with some hail Mary pass to bail himself out of the mess he is in.
I expect him to be on the phone with his JPM masters as they try to find some bone that will get the EC’s attention. He has 3 weeks or the examiner will be appointed. If there is not significant progress Susman can get up and say that this is just a stall and a waste of money and we need the examiner to get the information. If we have 3 weeks of no progress, THJMW will approve the motion for the examiner. So what has Rosen accomplished with the 3 week delay? He either gets the EC to come on board, or at least gets them to agree that we are close to being on board, or he subjects himself and his masters to 5 months of snooping by an examiner. Maybe they are not as afraid of the examiner as we think they should be, but it certainly appears they are doing everything they can to avoid having one appointed.
Rosen has 3 weeks. He got his 3 week delay by raising the expectations that he would be able to get the parties to make progress toward an agreement. The pressure is now on Rosen to produce.