On December 22, 2008, the presiding judge in the Watchmen suit (Gary Freess) entered a scheduling order setting some critical dates and deadlines. In addition to these dates, this order included some interesting information (my emphasis added):
The pre-trial conference shall be held on January 7, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. Proposed or agreed upon voir dire questions, verdict forms, special interrogatories, joint statement of the case, memoranda of contentions of fact and law, exhibit and witness lists, joint status report regarding settlement, and a joint statement regarding disputed instructions and jury forms shall be lodged no later than December 31, 2008. The parties shall file a pretrial conference order with the Court no later than January 2, 2009.
This means, among others things, that by December 31, 2008, a status report about progress in settling the lawsuit will be filed. This report should provide the first public indication (if it isn’t sealed) of what Fox and Warner Bros. have been doing to end the legal case without going to trial. Commentary will be provided once this and other documents are available.