Biglaw Firm Tries To Play Games With Federal Judge. Learns They Should Not Play Games With Federal Judge

Just because you can make an argument doesn't mean you should.

Standby for a benchslap!

Whenever you encounter someone on the dating scene who professes that they “don’t like to play games” what they’re actually telling you is that they love playing games but they don’t see the hoops they’ve personally contrived as “games” and they want a ready-made excuse when you ultimately reject them. Games are the only interesting part of the early stages of a relationship because getting through those are the “achievement unlocked” moments that provide endearing stories at 50th Wedding Anniversaries or, more to the point, interesting bar conversation.

Judges, on the other hand, genuinely don’t like to play games and they’re more than willing to publicly embarrass anyone who messes with them.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly of the Western District of Washington dropped the symbolic hammer on Biglaw firm Baker Donelson and Seattle firm Corr Cronin to the tune of a $500 each public shaming after the firms tried to pull a procedural fast one in his courtroom. The firms, representing a pair of plaintiffs, moved for partial summary judgment on the basis of a set of requests for admission that the defendant conceded.

Except… the defendant didn’t concede anything. The defendant sent its responses in via email, but Baker Donelson and Corr Cronin argued that because they never consented to electronic service, those responses were void. Judge Zilly was having none of this:

Plaintiffs’ attorneys’ attempt to use as a weapon in this litigation whatever misunderstanding occurred regarding how discovery requests and/or responses would be exchanged runs contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the local rules and practices of this district, with which the law firm of Corr Cronin, LLP is very familiar.

The judge only imposed a $500 fine — the equivalent of a paralegal spending a couple hours on this, no doubt — but it was never about the money as much as the public shaming the two received at the wrong end of this benchslap. Hopefully, this is the last time they’ll need to be warned.

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(Read Judge Zilly’s order on the next page.)

2 firms each sanctioned $500 after defendant complains of ‘egregious discovery gamesmanship’ [ABA Journal]

Earlier: Irritated Judge Writes The Best String Cite Ever


HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior 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.

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