Martin Phillips could have sworn he clicked on the right PDF last night when he was uploading his firm’s latest filing in the Carter v. Upshaw Industrials case pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Unfortunately, the next morning when he logged into LexisNexis to print out a copy of the filing so that he could tell partner Milton Simpson what it said, Martin realized he had screwed the pooch. Weary from an all-nighter of last minute research, Martin had not uploaded the motion to dismiss, but instead had electronically filed his 2009 Form 1040 tax return which was saved on his desktop for tweaking during downtime at the office.
“I was pretty surprised when I downloaded Upshaw Industrials’ filing and found a tax return instead of their motion,” said Melinda Delk, paralegal for the Plaintiff’s firm Endy & Yowl LLP. “I’ve seen Martin Phillips’ name on some of the pleadings, but I never thought I’d get to see his itemized deductions. To be honest, I was pretty embarrassed for him, but that guy should be proud of all of the money he gave to charity last year.”
While Melinda had a favorable reaction to the error, the same could not be said of the lead partner for the defendants. “Ok, I’ll admit it, I haven’t really bought into this whole e-file craze,” huffed an exasperated Mr. Simpson, one of the founding members of Sanders Simpson & Saul LLP. “Anytime something’s filed, I still have my paralegal print me out a copy and stack it on the corner of my desk until an associate comes in with another copy so he or she can tell me what it says.”
“However, the only reason we have younger associates around here is so that they can keep on top of this techno-Blackberry stuff,” bellowed an obviously frustrated Simpson. “Matt or Mark or whatever his name is, really made us look like rank amateurs with this whole filing. If the Generation Z kids can’t e-file correctly how does the court think this whole thing’s going to work? I for one am for the return to reliable days of the messenger pigeon.”
In his office next door to Mr. Simpson’s partner suite, Martin was figuring out how to get over the embarrassment of his mistake. “Clearly, I’m going to double-check my filing next time,” said a dejected Phillips. “I thought I clicked on ‘Upshaw.pdf’ but clearly must have clicked on ‘Upyours.pdf’ which is what I always name anything I submit to the federal government. An honest mistake, right?”
While Melinda had a favorable reaction to the error, the same could not be said of the lead partner for the defendants. “Ok, I’ll admit it, I haven’t really bought into this whole e-file craze,” huffed an exasperated Mr. Simpson, one of the founding members of Sanders Simpson & Saul LLP. “Anytime something’s filed, I still have my paralegal print me out a copy and stack it on the corner of my desk until an associate comes in with another copy so he or she can tell me what it says.”
“However, the only reason we have younger associates around here is so that they can keep on top of this techno-Blackberry stuff,” bellowed an obviously frustrated Simpson. “Matt or Mark or whatever his name is, really made us look like rank amateurs with this whole filing. If the Generation Z kids can’t e-file correctly how does the court think this whole thing’s going to work? I for one am for the return to reliable days of the messenger pigeon.”
In his office next door to Mr. Simpson’s partner suite, Martin was figuring out how to get over the embarrassment of his mistake. “Clearly, I’m going to double-check my filing next time,” said a dejected Phillips. “I thought I clicked on ‘Upshaw.pdf’ but clearly must have clicked on ‘Upyours.pdf’ which is what I always name anything I submit to the federal government. An honest mistake, right?”
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