After much legal wrangling and mudslinging, the lawsuit brought by ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella has been given a trial date. In a hearing today in Los Angeles, a judge scheduled the civil trial to begin on May 23, 2011. In addition, another hearing on August 5 of this year will be held to determine whether or not to consolidate a third suit brought by another group of ex-Infinity Ward developers into the existing suits.

Activision sued West and Zampella for breach of contract and insubordination after firing the two studio leads in March of this year. In response, West and Zampella countersued for $36 million in unpaid royalties, charging that Activision had wrongly dismissed them in an effort to avoid paying said royalties.

Obviously, both sides will have plenty of time to prepare, so we'll wait a year before what could be the ugliest soap opera in video game history kicks into high gear.