Got Adjourned.

It's a beautiful day here on Long Island.  Too beautiful to spend the day in court.

But I had a case on the court calendar.   Past tense is used because it turns out that it got adjourned for a week.  And I didn't know about it because the website for the New York courts was down for maintenance until mid-morning today.  And, it turns out, neither did my adversary.

But my drive to the court was not a total loss because I had other things to do in the vicinity, and the weather was and is beautiful.  And, best of all, the Judge's clerk confirmed that because neither I nor my adversary requested oral argument, there would be no oral argument and Hizzoner will decide the case on the papers alone.  So the adjourned date presents no conflict in my schedule.

[A number of years ago I had made the mistake of presuming that there would be no oral argument in a case in Brooklyn.  I did not go, and I defaulted for my client.  Fortunately, a co-defendant's attorney was there, the adversary was denied summary judgment in most respects, and the case settled among all parties a week later.  Turns out that the judge in question had, shall we say, ethical issues of a magnitude to warrant his removal from the bench, so he conveniently retired and pulled his pension (but not for long -- he had the pension terminated by The Judge on an Even Higher Bench not long thereafter.).  Unlike the late judge in Brooklyn, the judge I have on the current case doesn't like to play games, and doesn't like to call attorneys into court for unnecessary waits if such can be avoided.].

As for the current case, it is a civil matter, but the judge's courtroom and chambers are on the same floor as the criminal parts, so all kinds of low-rent riff-raff crowds the hallways awaiting trial.  It doesn't particularly cause me any fear (though my client was concerned for his personal safety when we went in for a conference a few months ago) because the defendants in the hallways are out on bail or on their own recognizance, and, crude as they may be, they usually know not to pull any shtick to warrant revocation of bail pending their trials.  The ones who are really dangerous are usually brought into court under Sheriff's escort, so they aren't problematic either as far as personal safety goes.

And because I have an official Attorney Secure Pass, I don't have to stand in line with them for the metal detectors.  My clients are usually not so lucky.

In any event, I am now back home, doing paperwork, and ready to take a break to do a little yardwork.

It's a beautiful day here on Long Island.  Too beautiful to spend the day in court.