Kleiman v Wright trial delayed to January 2021

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Kleiman v Wright trial is now scheduled for January 4, 2021.

The parties had filed a joint application to extend pre-trial deadlines and reset the trial date to January 4. On September 4, the Court granted that request.

The trial had already been delayed multiple times, most recently from August to October 13. In June, The Southern District Court of Florida has denied Ira Kleiman’s request to sanction Dr. Craig Wright over his conduct in the case. United States District Judge Beth Bloom signed the order, which noted that Kleiman’s allegations that Wright had committed perjury and fabricated evidence were “extreme” and “severe,” and that Dr. Wright had also pointed to several “deficiencies” in the Plaintiff’s characterization of events and claims. As such, approving the sanction was not appropriate for a judge to decide at the time.

Then the Administrative Order 2020-41 was published at the end of June, pushing the beginning of all jury trials in the Southern District of Florida’s District Court until October 13.

The recent request on the part of Kleiman and Wright is mostly a formality: civil jury trials have continued to be postponed as the Courts grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this request was merely to give effect to a delay that was already guaranteed. COVID-19 has already disrupted the Kleiman proceedings, with depositions being taken remotely and deadlines being regularly revised due to the logistical challenges associated with the pandemic.

The parties had also requested an extension to their pre-trial deadlines, which the Court granted. All pre-trial submissions must be filed by December 21, or in most cases, by December 15, a week earlier than Kleiman and Wright had requested. The new trial date could get pushed further into 2021 as the courts try to clean out the massive backlog of cases, CoinGeek will stay on top of any new updates in the Kleiman v Wright trial for readers.