Wednesday, March 09, 2005
FAILURE OF LOGIC
Sitting on the bench one clear motion day, I wasn’t quite prepared for one of the strangest motions I had ever come across.
“Comes now, the plaintiff, unto the Honorable Court, most respectfully manifests that the defendant has fully complied with the judgment…, wherefore, in consideration thereof, it is most respectfully prayed of the Honorable Court, to DISMISS the instant action.”
That prompted me to whip out my cellphone (still on the bench, but out of sight, naughty me) and SMS all my lawyer friends.
“Atty UV s askng 4 dismisal o case c oredi won & wer judgment complied!”
Prompt reply from what some lawyers would call a MERE law student, “Ka stupid! Dosnt make sense!”
Enough levity for one afternoon. You’d think that would be the end of it, but no! It happened again. Twice.
Thankfully, none of the lawyers involved came from my alma mater, the University of San Carlos, nor from the school I teach in, the University of Cebu (we don’t even have seniors yet). You can be sure I mention this whenever I can to my students.
Mi compañeros, if you don’t want judges to text all their lawyer friends about you while they hear your motion, make sure you NEVER, NEVER make such a horrible mistake. It not only shows a failure of logic on you part (Why on earth dismiss a case you’ve already won?), it also shows you don’t know jack about execution! For a practitioner, failure to understand execution is FATAL to your career. Well, maybe not, but embarrassing to say the least and a potential loss of millions.
Learn to submit, or ask for, an ADMISSION OF SATISFACTION OF JUDGMENT.
“Comes now, the plaintiff, unto the Honorable Court, most respectfully manifests that the defendant has fully complied with the judgment…, wherefore, in consideration thereof, it is most respectfully prayed of the Honorable Court, to DISMISS the instant action.”
That prompted me to whip out my cellphone (still on the bench, but out of sight, naughty me) and SMS all my lawyer friends.
“Atty UV s askng 4 dismisal o case c oredi won & wer judgment complied!”
Prompt reply from what some lawyers would call a MERE law student, “Ka stupid! Dosnt make sense!”
Enough levity for one afternoon. You’d think that would be the end of it, but no! It happened again. Twice.
Thankfully, none of the lawyers involved came from my alma mater, the University of San Carlos, nor from the school I teach in, the University of Cebu (we don’t even have seniors yet). You can be sure I mention this whenever I can to my students.
Mi compañeros, if you don’t want judges to text all their lawyer friends about you while they hear your motion, make sure you NEVER, NEVER make such a horrible mistake. It not only shows a failure of logic on you part (Why on earth dismiss a case you’ve already won?), it also shows you don’t know jack about execution! For a practitioner, failure to understand execution is FATAL to your career. Well, maybe not, but embarrassing to say the least and a potential loss of millions.
Learn to submit, or ask for, an ADMISSION OF SATISFACTION OF JUDGMENT.
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