When you were in school, did you ever fudge the margins, or the font, or the line-spacing to fit your term paper within the confines of a teacher’s page limit. Let me give you lawyers reading today’s post a little practice pointer. Don’t do that when you file a brief with a court. Slate.com quotes the opinion of District Court Judge Carl Barbier, who took BP to task for playing with page limits.
BP’s counsel filed a brief that, at first blush, appeared just within the 35-page limit. A closer study reveals that BP’s counsel abused the page limit by reducing the line spacing to slightly less than double-spaced. As a result, BP exceeded the (already enlarged) page limit by roughly 6 pages. The Court should not have to waste its time policing such simple rules—particularly in a case as massive and complex as this. Counsel are expected to follow the Court’s orders both in letter and in spirit. The Court should not have to resort to imposing character limits, etc., to ensure compliance. Counsel’s tactic would not be appropriate for a college term paper. It certainly is not appropriate here. Any future briefs using similar tactics will be struck.
Ouch.
Here’s the rest of what I read this week:
Discrimination
- Iowa Editor Fired Over “Gaystopo” Blog Post Claims He’s A Victim of Religious Discrimination — via Jim Romenesko
- Nepotism in the Workplace - is it discrimination? — via Employment Law Bits
- Ten “Reasonable Accommodations” For Employees With Disabilities — via Employment Discrimination Report
- What employers need to know about “subtle bias” before it becomes an in-your-face lawsuit — via Eric Meyer’s The Employer Handbook Blog
- What can a disabled comedian teach HR? — via Mike Haberman’s Omega HR Solutions
- You’re Damned if You Automatically Fire an Employee Who Has Cancer — via damnedif
- EEOC takes on fitness-for-duty medical releases; how to avoid the crosshairs — via Next Blog
HR & Employee Relations
- Fantasy Football’s Impact on the Workplace — via HR Defense Blog
- Some Extra Points about Fantasy Football and Your Workplace — via EntertainHR
- You Stink! How to Have Difficult Conversations with Employees — via Blogging4Jobs
- Analytics and … Employment Law? — via The Labor Dish
- Off-duty domestic violence — what’s an employer to do? — via Robin Shea’s Employment & Labor Insider
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: What You Should Know About Ban the Box — via TLNT
- How Long Can You Enforce a Non-Compete Agreement For? — via Dan Schwartz’s Connecticut Employment Law Blog
- How To Protect an Employer’s Intellectual Property — via Minnesota Employer
- Fired for What!? - Judge Loses Job Over Social Media Posts — via Phil Miles’s Lawffice Space
Wage & Hour
- Wage-and-Hour Implications for Telecommuting — via Employment Essentials
- Shell Oil and Related Company Pay Over $4 Million in Overtime Back Wages Following DOL Investigation — via Texas Employment Law Blog
- Food Concession Employers Win Major (But Costly) FLSA Victory — via Employer Advocate
- Lawyers Hit Rough Patch in Unpaid Intern Class Actions— via Law.com
- Cheerleaders Win Wage Theft Lawsuit — via Overtime Lawyer Blog
- Working “Off the Clock” is Not OK — via DOL’s Work in Progress
- Can We Terminate an Employee for Working a Second Job While on FMLA Leave? — via Jeff Nowak’s FMLA Insights
Labor Relations
- NLRB goes rogue against small business — via The Hill
- NLRB reinstates free meals for striking BBQ workers — via Ross Runkel Report
- Your Next Airline Delay May Carry the Union Label — via LaborPains.org
- Protecting the Employer’s Brand During a Labor Dispute — via Vorys on Labor
- Chipotle’s Sweatshop! — via The Tim Sackett Project
- Decertification Fight At Cablevision Turns Nasty — via Labor Relations Today