MISSED THE DEADLINE? OH, WELL!

I went to my post office recently, and when I opened my box it was only to find it completely filled with a large manilla envelope.  Investigating further, I discovered that it had been sent to me by the court. 

What I'd received were multiple copies of a recent motion I'd submitted to the Court along with the notification that the motion was rejected because I had missed the deadline in which to file it. 

So, instead of just throwing them all in the trash and sending me a letter to let me know, the clerks had sent each and every copy back to me with the date stamps crossed out.

That was an eyeball rolling moment for me.  I mean, couldn't they have at least saved the state the postage?  No, I guess they wanted to let me have the honor of throwing my motion as well as all the copies of the motion in the garbage. 

This motion, by the way, was a motion requesting correction of false and misleading statements that a judge had made in an order in my case.  "False and misleading statements!  Made by a judge!",  you say, "How is that possible!"  Well, trust me, it is possible.  It is possible all the time.

What bothers me is, how can there possibly be a deadline on telling the truth.  The IRS has no deadline on reporting fraud, and that is for good reason.  Fraud is timeless.  So, in my opinion, is the requirement that we adhere to the truth in all statements made on documents created by or presented to the courts.  That is, or should be, a timeless requirement.

So, what did I do about this situation?  Well, I was grumpy and annoyed for the rest of the day.  I mean, I put a lot of time and effort into writing that motion and going into town personally to submit it to the Court.  And, it seemed, all that effort had gone for nothing. 

At that moment it appeared to me that I was going to lose my opportunity to make an important legal point and all because I wasn't watching the darned calendar and made a simple technical mistake.  I'm sure lawyers have all sorts of stories like this where a technical mistake lost them multiple thousands of dollars and it happens to them all the time.  But I am not a lawyer.  I have only this case, my case, and I don't want to lose ground simply because  I missed a stupid deadline. 

Our court system is rife with corruption, as I have explained, and they have numerous ways to evade and avoid litigants such as ourselves who are simply trying to obtain justice.  But in this absurd way, the court system is very systematic and meticulous about how they go about their business, which is a factor that we can take advantage of.  So while there are technicalities that can tie our hands, there are others that can release them.  This means that even though I missed the darned deadline on this motion, I still have the opportunity to file a "Motion For Permission to File Late" and ask the court to agree to accept my earlier motion even though it was late. 

This is the point when it comes to the legal system, if you are blocked off in one way of resolving your problems, there is always another way to go about it, if you have the time and patience.  The best thing to do first is to go to the Clerk and tell the Clerk was happened and ask him or her what to do.  Half the time, they know, or if they don't, they have a good idea of where to look for an answer. That, of course, is assuming you have used common sense and your natural charm to develop a good relationship with the clerk. 

So, there you go, folks, miss the old deadline, file a motion to be excused from the deadline.  It may not always work, but it is worth a try!