The lawyer said the mask made it hard to breathe. The judge had previously had Covid-19, and threw out the case, but did say that the client could refile the case later. I think the judge was right. I wonder if the plaintiff will sue her lawyer for the inconvenience involved. (Presumably, she’ll make sure any other lawyers she hires will mask up.)
This incident feels like a Boston Legal episode.
And had been hospitalized for it.
That seems incredibly irresponsible of the lawyer, as much to his client as to the judge.
I’ not sure it’s ethical to punish the litigant over the actions of her lawyer.
Yeah. I say throw out the bone-headed lawyer, not the case!
ETA: Why didn’t the lawyer ask for a continuance for his client (so as to obtain new counsel), tell the judge he can’t abide with the mask rule because of breathing issues, excuse himself, and leave?
Probably the same as the real reason he refuses to wear a mask in the first place—he doesn’t care all that much about other people.
If I was the judge the attorney would be in jail for contempt of court. And the suit would still be pending awaiting selection of different counsel for the plaintiff.
Ultimately, the Court can’t insulate the plaintiff from all the consequences of having selected a fool for an attorney. But they can at least avoid making the plaintiff suffer any more than minimally necessary.
“Rights” without the cumbersome inconvenience of “Responsibilities” seems to be the hallmark of his ilk.
Yeah, that’s pretty bad. Couldn’t the judge hold the lawyer in contempt and tell the plaintiff he has to get a new one?
Hmm, maybe the whole point was really for the judge to get off the case.
The lawyer was aware of the rules, agreed to the rules, but waited until the jury selection phase to share that they wouldn’t comply with the rules. It’s certainly inconvenient for the plaintiff, but I don’t know what else should be expected of the court in this situation.
Wouldn’t the court documents indicate that Maskhole Legal Firm is representing the plaintiff? I’m assuming those can’t be amended. Re-filing with a new lawyer would seem the only choice.
Stall tactic to force a settlement?
As others have said, you don’t punish the party because of misconduct by the lawyer.
I don’t believe there was any intent to punish the party as the judge offered several solutions. What would your solution look like?
IANAL, but I thought attorneys just had to be replaced sometimes and there were provisions for that. Say your lawyer dies 5 months into your case. Does it have to start all over then?
Maybe its some difference between criminal and civil law because it seems to me that attys are replaced at trials sometimes.
Let’s say a defendent fires his lawyer. Is that then a mistrial that has to be started over?
And the judge offered to allow the attorney to get someone else at their firm to replace them.
A woman walks into a grocery store with their 2 year old who is hungry, but the woman refuses to wear a face mask which goes against state law. In my world, we tell her to either wear a mask, get someone to shop in her stead, or go somewhere else and hope they are willing to break state law for her. Sucks for the hungry kid, but we’re certainly not trying to make them suffer. What does your store manager do?
Why can’t she hire any new attorney? Why does she have her case dismissed if she doesn’t immediately hire a attorney she may not want to use?
Is this a legal thing?
aside…
Could we PLEASE teach people basic ethics! - there are no rights without corresponding responsibilities. We have made the battle cry of RIGHTS! the ability to do whatever the fuck I please without having to worry about the rest of you suckers.
So many of our problems are philosophical in nature - by which I mean we don’t teach people ethics, we don’t teach them to critically think, we don’t teach them logic, we don’t teach them source evaluation…but hey, lets teach them how to calculate molecular weight and do log equations and read The Scarlett Letter because all of that will be useful.
end aside
A court of law has a decidedly different and more important set of rules than a grocery store. Analogies don’t cut it.
Actually, we don’t do that anymore, either. LOL