| Volume 143 Number 4 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Opening a business requires planning, elbow grease, and probably some paperwork to register your new company with your state or local government. And that’s where some not-so-honest outfits may try to confuse you into thinking they’re from the government and that you need to pay money to complete your registration. Click here for more.
GM recalls model year Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500s
General Motors is recalling 350,371 model year 2019-2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 trucks. The battery positive (B+) cable rings may have been manufactured with excessive glue, potentially causing an intermittent electrical connection between the B+ cable and alternator. An intermittent electrical connection between the B+ battery cable and the alternator could cause the vehicle to stall, increasing the risk of a crash. The intermittent connection could also lead to electrical arcing, which could generate sufficient heat to damage surrounding material, increasing the risk of a fire. Click here for more.
Your Money
Few people are predicting that 2020 will be a record-breaking year for home sale prices. But relatively speaking, 2020 might be the best time to put your house on the market. Especially if you’re on the fence about selling this year or next, it may be better to sell in an environment that's more predictable, rather than wait for time to pass and circumstances to change. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Even 16 minutes late is too late for filing an appeal. The Tenth Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of a motion for leave to file an untimely appeal. The District Court entered its final judgment on November 14, triggering the 30-day clock for Hammer to appeal the decision by 11:59 p.m. on December 14. At 12:16 a.m. on December 15, she filed a motion for an extension of the deadline to appeal, citing “several client emergencies,” “significant gastrointestinal issues,” and interrupted access to her office network and printer. She also detailed her struggles with the court’s Electronic Case Filing system, noting that she mistakenly logged into a training website rather than the court’s official filing page, and then accidentally logged into the official filing page using incorrect credentials. The Court framed the issue as whether Hammer’s individual errors or delays rendered the court clerk’s office “inaccessible” under Rule 26(a)(3) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. It held that they did not, referencing cases from around the country where neither power outages at 11:50 p.m., FedEx’s failure to deliver filings on time, nor failed internet connections made the court “inaccessible.” The court’s system, not the litigant’s, must malfunction to excuse a late filing. Chung v. Lamb Click here for more.