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I started a property litigation matter with a litigant in person in 1985, as a callow youth. In 2003, by which time I was a partner in a different firm, the client had decided my hourly rate had increased beyond what was sensible for the case. In 2007 the client sold its interest and so there was a change in the parties; in 2011 I was informed anecdotally that the litigation was still ongoing.

While I was handling it, there were various reasons for the delays, some benign, some not: client fed up with the expense and prepared to wait and draw breath; LiP obtaining various interim orders which undid or delayed the implementation of prior court orders (despite a Grepe v. Loam order); LiP's impecuniosity, which meant the likelihood of further action being paid for by the LiP was remote; complaints by the service charge paying lessees who, at least on an interim basis, were part funding the dispute. I am sure that there were others too.

There can also come a point when litigation ceases to be about the original dispute, but about the costs incurred in connection with the dispute, which over time dwarf the original value in dispute. At that point, or earlier, any compromise becomes more difficult. Although with a LiP compromise is almost beyond possibility anyway.