Ok, I've now figured out what condition causes a user to no longer be able to reproduce this issue. If you use the Ctrl-Super-Left/Right shortcut key to vertically semi-maximize a window, then any more grabs to semi-maximize/maximize the window will not cause the desktop to lock up! It even persists over reboots. At this point, this makes absolutely no sense to me why using a shortcut would clear up the issue and never cause this to happen again.
Ok, I've now figured out what condition causes a user to no longer be able to reproduce this issue. If you use the Ctrl-Super- Left/Right shortcut key to vertically semi-maximize a window, then any more grabs to semi-maximize/ maximize the window will not cause the desktop to lock up! It even persists over reboots. At this point, this makes absolutely no sense to me why using a shortcut would clear up the issue and never cause this to happen again.