GENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES; LACHES – In General

Single Topic for Decision 2514E

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Generally, unreasonable delay, by itself, does not establish prejudice for the purpose of laches. Rather, the respondent’s reliance on such delay must have been detrimental in some respect and the detrimental change must have been caused by or at least occurred during the period of the unreasonable delay. Because here, the charging party requested that the case be placed in medical abeyance in January 2009, before the respondent’s witness suffered a debilitating medical condition allegedly affecting his memory, any prejudice suffered by the respondent as a result of witness’s memory loss was not caused by charging party’s delay. (p. 34.)