Opinion
No. 09 C 6506.
December 28, 2010
MEMORANDUM ORDER
This action's December 23, 2010 status hearing, which had been reset to that date because of counsel's request for a brief extension to December 19 of the previously-set filing date of submissions for this Court's consideration, was essentially aborted because defense counsel had not delivered a paper copy of her filing to chambers as required by LR 5.2(f) (and as reemphasized in this Court's website). Defense counsel then stated that the filing had been made electronically on the December 17 due date, and she was quite certain that the rule-mandated in-chambers delivery of a hard copy had been made.
Not so. Both this Court's minute clerk and its secretary record all such deliveries carefully, a practice that has been necessitated by one of the negative aspects of the advent of electronic filing, and no such delivery is recorded there. Moreover, this Court maintains its own checklist of scheduled submissions and had updated that list to reflect the extended December 17 filing date — it would surely have noted the document (particularly given its bulk) if it had been received.
It is hard to account for the extensive violations by all too many lawyers of LR 5.2(f): whether carelessness or lack of consideration for the court or what have you. What is clear is that a cultural change is required, and this Court is at a loss to devise a wholly effective means of doing that. In the meantime, though, the modest sanction forewarned in this Court's website appears to be an appropriate minimal response, and the City of Chicago is therefore ordered to pay the sum of $150 to the Clerk of Court as a fine for violation of the court order.
Dated: December 28, 2010