Judge R. David Proctor of the Northern District of Alabama has had it up to here with the litigants in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust case. When attorneys for Blue Cross filed a “Motion to Exceed Page Limit” (a motion that, with a straight face, asks to exceed a 30-page limit — by 15 pages, mind you — because Plaintiffs’ filing was 29 pages long) Judge Proctor decided it was time to bring everyone together for a benchslapping.
Without deciding the motion, which is properly before the Magistrate in the case, Judge Proctor lit into the parties in the litigation that already boasts over 2100 docket entries over “this current chapter of the parties’ discovery soap opera”:
When the court reads the parties’ briefs on this motion, this image comes to mind:
To be clear, the court volunteers this impression for two reasons: (1) to make its point about faux drama in briefing; and (2) to remind the parties that while this is no doubt serious litigation, “personalities” in these cases don’t help anyone.
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It’s worth noting that Blue Cross didn’t file its motion in advance, but rather dropped it in at the deadline along with their 45-page brief. I was once on a case where co-defendants’ counsel did the same thing and the judge didn’t even file an order — he just reentered the brief with a short message in red pen: “You must be kidding, denied.” Are there judges out there who are sympathetic to this? Who is out there giving lawyers the impression that they can do this?
Second, generally a motion seeking relief such as this should be filed in advance. The court generally frowns upon post-filing motions for leave to extend. The court is mindful of Mark Twain’s aphorism that he once wrote a long letter because he didn’t have time to write a shorter one. It goes without saying that counsel should reflect on the value of each argument when the draft of a brief hits the upper page limit.
Judge Proctor concludes by characterizing this as a “gentle reminder.” A word of advice to the parties: if this is the gentle reminder, I’d do my best not to make him really angry.
(Check out the full opinion on the next page.)
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BCBS Antitrust Judge Out Of Patience, But Not GIFs [Law360]
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.