If I were to tell you that a new service could help you avoid a $40 million mistake in litigation, would you be interested?
The mistake to which I refer was Sidley Austin’s failure to timely read orders referenced in a notice of electronic filing (NEF). The orders denied Sidley’s post-trial motions filed on behalf of AT&T after it was hit with a $40 million verdict in a patent infringement case. Because Sidley did not read the orders in time, it missed the deadline to file an appeal.
Claiming that the NEFs were misleadingly labeled, Sidley sought to reopen the appeal period. In a March 19, 2015, decision, the Federal Circuit shot down Sidley’s request, agreeing with the trial judge that it was “inexcusable for AT&T’s multiple counsel to fail to read all of the underlying orders they received, or—at minimum—to monitor the docket for any corrections or additional rulings.”
