Special?

I made a special appearance for a fellow lawyer on Monday in a local county courthouse. I've done this before, and it was supposed to be really straightforward, no surprises. Friends, the key phrase in that sentence was "supposed to be."

I get up when the case was called and I said "Good morning, your honor, [my name and last name spelled for the record] specially appearing on behalf of plaintiff [name]." The judge, who looked like most of the judges you'd see in older tv movies - older, white-haired man with glasses- looked down from the bench, over his glasses at me and asked "so what's so special about you?" Folks, he wasn't kidding. There wasn't a hint or glimmer of laughter in his voice. No joke. "Um, well, your honor, I'm not an attorney of record in this case." (Read: hence, one of the Black's Law definitions of "special appearance.") Then, he says "are you an attorney?" WTF??? I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone or something. "Yes, your honor, I am an attorney." At this point, I was thinking he was going to ask me for my bar card and birth certificate.

He then turned to the defense attorney, some guy with salt and pepper hair who, when he identified himself, also announced the fact that he was with a larger firm (which shall remain nameless). The judge asked him the status of the case (hence, the point of the Status Conference for which we were there). While defense counsel didn't tell the whole story, I wasn't going to point out what he was leaving out. What was the point? Until, that it, that the judge suggested that the case be dismissed. Um, what? You're sitting in for another judge (this was another judge sitting in for the judge whose calendar this was - this was not the judge to whom the case was assigned), you know that I'm not the attorney of record on this case, and now you're talking about dismissing it?

Of course defense counsel says he'd have no objection. Gee, you think? Thanks, you're a lot of help. And then the judge turns to me and says, "Counsel, how would you feel about that?" About you dismissing a case that you're not even presiding over and that isn't even my case? Give me a minute to think about this one...Granted, the case is in arbitration and the court would have retained jurisdiction for enforcing judgment, but it's not my call, and with all due respect, it's not this judge's call either. I suggested he either continue it or set it for another case management conference 6 to 8 months out. He took neither of my suggestions and set it for an OSC re dismissal in 2 months. Thanks. That was productive.

Here's the kicker to that - It's set for the same day this other attorney and I already have a hearing set. It's also the day that we now have a motion for summary judgment hearing in federal court.

Busy much?

At least it's a cute war story that I have now.