Everyone makes mistakes. However, in an adversarial process it seems that some honest errors could be used by the opposition to derail a trial by forcing one side to defend claims it never actually made.
For example, in a recent document filed in a lawsuit the person who typed the document mistakenly typed “SecuROM has not been effective in preventing privacy” instead of the obviously intended “SecuROM has not been effective in preventing piracy”. If EA disputes this, saying they demand he demonstrate they at any time attempted to prevent anyone’s privacy in any fashion, could they make a big deal out of this?
I just heard of a divorce not being finalized because the lawyer spelled the name of one of the parties wrong. It was a very minor and obvious mistake and this was finalising a divorce so it was not like something new. Still the judge threw out the papers and demended the lawyer to try again, this time with the correct name. I think it is stupid but this was in Alabama.
The general rule is that procedure is the handmaiden of justice. That means that courts have considerable discretion to allow amendments to defective pleadings, to ensure that the courts determine cases on their merits, not on typos.
As for the divorce example, I’ve got some sympathy for the judge, for two reasons. First, a lawyer shouldn’t be so careless that they don’t even get the names of the parties right. Sloppy work like that needs to be sanctioned.
Second, if this document was to finalize the divorce, an error in the name could be quite significant. Depending on the terms of the divorce, the parties may need to use the divorce judgment to get third parties, like businesses or government agencies, to change their records or release one of the ex-spouses from a contract or title. If the name isn’t right on the final divorce papers, a third party may not accept that the divorce document applies to the person they have dealings with. If so, the parties would have to come back to court to get an amended, corrected final document. Better to save time and do it right.
Note that in the divorce example, the Court hasn’t given a judgment based on the typo; it’s told off the lawyer for sloppy work and told him to come back when he can spell the name of his client on an important court document.
I once found a typo in one of my own briefs that changed the sense of the argument - equivalent to dropping out a “not” in a sentence. Oops!
I filed a corrected page with the court, and served copies on opposing counsel. I underlined the new wording so the court could see at a glance what the change was.
No-one raised any objections, and we just proceeded to argue it in the normal way.
The point is that the judge did not allow the document to be corrected on the spot but made the lawyer do it all over again and come back another day. That considerable prejudices the client who is not at fault. I agree that the lawyer needs to be admonished and even punished if you want but do not make the client pay for the faults of the lawyer. There is no need for that.
agreed - and, in response to Sailor’s, concern , opposing counsel pops up at that point and says “Costs for the day, My Lord?”, which the court would likely also grant, to be paid personally by counsel who screwed up.
When I was in grad school I spent two or three days working for an outfit that ended up being so shady that I quit. The billed themselves as a tenant’s rights group or something that would help people who were being evicted.
One of their techniques was to look over the eviction notice for any typos and file a document with the Court that would say, “There is no JOHN W. SNITH at this address blah blah blah” and the owners would have to refile for JOHN W. SMITH. The same for minor typos in the address (Elm Dr. instead of Elm St.). The time that it took the owners to get the response and refile would buy the renters another week or so of free rent.
As Northern Piper and Gfactor have pointed out, depending on what the document is, interlineation (i.e., writing in the correct name) could cause the client more problems down the road, as when attempting to use the document to show something. Can’t you see the bank or mortgage company saying, “Hey – this one has handwriting on it – we need a clean, typewritten one.”
As to the OP, I couldn’t handle reading that link, so I have no idea what type of document is at issue. If it’s a complaint, it’s very likely no big deal. Either ask the court to interlineate it, ask to file an amended complaint, or if it’s discovered later, ask the court to amend the complaint to conform to evidence. So, really, if someone thinks they can hand their defense hat on a typo, they’re likely to be unsuccessful.
Costs in the Canadian context includes both disbursements and fees, up to a certain amount set by the Court’s tariff. Costs of the day are meant to compensate the innocent party for whatever out-of-pocket expenses they’ve incurred for the wasted court appearance. There usually wouldn’t be any court fees or disbursements thrown away by an adjournment, because whatever pleadings or prep time has been incurred can normally be carried forward to the next appearance, so most the costs-of-the-day would be to pay the lawyer’s fee.
Usually the Court would just set the costs on the spot, to avoid hassles about calculation of the amount. I’ve seen cases where lawyers have asked for amounts ranging from $200 to $500 for costs of the day, depending on how far they had to travel to come to court.
If the owner can’t even remember the correct address of his building when filing a court document, I have to wonder how he was doing on actually maintaining that building!
Sounds like a slumlord who owned so many buildings he couldn’t keep track of them. And we know how poorly those people maintain the property.
It’s more like a lazy or overworked paralegal. In my short experience at that job I probably visited eight clients. One was in a mobile home park and the rest were apartment buildings. In every case, the places were nice enough. They were cheaper rentals but by no means slummy. The renters were either bums or nice people who fell on hard times. Your characterization, from my experience, it entirely off the mark.
Do they have to bring pie also?
When my father’s estate finally settled, the court papers came out as
Myfather’sfirstname Mylast name deceased
The people receiving the estate (my sister and I) were listed as:
Mysister’sfirstname Mysister’smarriedhispaniclastname
and
Richard Mysister’smarriedhispaniclastname
There aren’t enough :rolleyes: in the SDMB inventory to express my feelings of WTF.
Why kind of moron thinks the son of someone who has a German last name would have a Hispanic last name?
I called my sister and told her to call the lawyer. I told her I was far too pissed to talk to them about this. I told her to tell them I wanted corrected paper the next day, and I would not accept any billing for their screw up.
I know it was probably just a paralegal who had a brain fart, but Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, if I were the lawyer, I would be embarrassed beyond belief at letting papers this screwed up out my door.
You’d be amazed at how many clients don’t even know their own names. Seriously.
I regularly have people come to me with divorce applications that were tossed back by the court because the wrong name was set out by either themselves when they made their own applications, or by one of the 1-800 cheap divorce shops.
Inevitably they ask how much it will cost to fix, and I say it will be just a little more than you paid the 1-800 outfit. When they ask how much it would have cost to have hired me in the first place, I say it would have been a little less than the 1-800 outfit.
My favorite is the Sea Sponge brief. A Santa Cruz attorney submitted a brief and every where he meant to say Sua Sponte his spell check inserted “Sea Sponge” and he didn’t catch it before submission. I have found that courts will just laugh it of if it is not something that could change the meaning of the document if it does they will let you correct it.
Too late to add on edit:
hajiro, I find nothing wrong with the practices you mention. Party names and correct street address are crucial in eviction actions. If a court issues an order for Mr. Snith to vacate a house on Elm Street do you suggest that Mr. Smith on Elm Drive should have to leave his house?
Addresses are crucial; one-off names, less so. If you get the wrong address, the sherriff shows up at the wrong house. That’s huge. If the sherriff shows up at 1234 Main Street where Mr. Smith lives, and thinks he’s evicting Mr. Smoth, the right property still winds up vacant, and the right person’s belongings are on t he curb. He’s just out there whining that he’s not Mr. Smoth, so he should be able to stay until his landlord learns to spell. In many jurisdictions, it is common to file evictions against Mr. Smith (who signed the lease) and all other occupants–or something like that. The all other occupants part is included in case there are other folks living there, but also adds a layer of protection against typos in the name and the tenant’s use of aliases.
In many jurisdictions, it is common to file evictions against Mr. Smith (who signed the lease) and all other occupants–or something like that. The all other occupants part is included in case there are other folks living there, but also adds a layer of protection against typos in the name and the tenant’s use of aliases.