Opinion
Case No. 16 C 10390
02-28-2017
SAMEENA AZHAR, Plaintiff, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Although the University of Chicago's motion to dismiss a portion of the complaint in this action has been met with the filing by plaintiff Sameena Azhar ("Azhar") of both (1) a Second Amended Complaint on February 13 and (2) a response to the motion on February 20, in each instance Azhar's counsel has ignored the explicit directive of this District Court's LR 5.2(f) and of this Court's corresponding website provision that require the delivery of a paper copy of every such filing for this Court's use within one business day after filing. Indeed, to underscore the importance of the LR 5.2(f) requirement to the case management procedures followed by this Court, the first paragraph in its website expressly repeats that requirement, adding that a delivery to this Court's chambers on the date of filing, if possible, would be appreciated (although such earlier delivery is not essential).
In an effort to monitor compliance with that requirement (which has regrettably not always been adhered to by lawyers), both this Court's judicial assistant and its courtroom deputy maintain lists of all deliveries by counsel to this Court's chambers. Although that recordkeeping is intended to be error-free, if Azhar's counsel were to establish that what is said in this memorandum order about nondelivery is in error, the sanction called for by this memorandum order will of course be rescinded.
Despite the literal one-business-day requirement of LR 5.2(f), this Court has customarily allowed a grace period -- typically at least a week -- before issuing this type of memorandum order. In this instance that added time has elapsed without compliance by Azhar's counsel, and this Court hereby orders:
That grace period varies somewhat from case to case, the result of this Court's obtaining the Clerk's Office printouts reflecting case filings only sporadically rather than on a regular (say weekly) basis. --------
1. that the missing copy of each of the two filings be delivered to this Court's chambers forthwith and
2. that such delivery be accompanied by a check for $200 payable to the "Clerk of the District Court" by reason of the LR 5.2(f) violations ($100 for each violation), a requirement foreshadowed by the opening provision in this Court's website.
/s/_________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge Date: February 28, 2017