In this particular case - that I have been following and writing about for nearly six years - the judge (James Beaty, Jr., NC Middle District) is allowing things to drag out far too long. I don’t trust him at all.
He's a fed. They're much worse than the state court judges as far as dragging things out. The AOUSC has tried all sorts of strategies to make them get a move on (including the dreaded "sixty day list" for motions that remain pending too long) but none of it does any good because they are appointed for life, and they really don't give a flip what anybody thinks (there was one judge in our division, now deceased, who was a very good man personally but a very indecisive one, a bad quality for a judge. He was known around the courthouse as "The Black Hole", because once something got into his office, it never came out.)
At least state court judges usually have to stand for re-election, so if they don't do their jobs they get bounced.
I'll defer to you because I don't know the man from Adam's house cat -- but five years in a Federal suit is nothing. You may not trust him, but that's not a reason for distrust.