In the grand tradition of turning every shred of human decency into a bargaining chip, a motion in a bankruptcy action seeks a filing extension from the court after the words “my wife is in the hospital being medically induced eight months into pregnancy” were apparently met with: Sure — but only if you cave on this other procedural demand we’ve been pestering you with.
Nothing says professionalism and collegiality like a hostage negotiation with a newborn as collateral!
Let’s back up. Byju Alpha is a Chapter 11 proceeding in Delaware. As the defendants prepared a reply for the motion to dismiss, Delaware counsel learned that his wife’s pregnancy required a medically necessary induction. Between hospital delays, shuttling back and forth with Maternal Fetal Medicine, and the whole “bringing an actual human life into the world” thing, counsel wasn’t in a position to assist with the reply brief and sought an extension. This is not a frivolous extension to go watch football or catch a baseball game. An induced, 8-month pregnancy is no joke.
On August 18, counsel asked the other side for another couple days to get everything in order. According to the filing, here’s what happened next.
7. Plaintiffs’ counsel replied to Defendants’ counsel’s Request that Plaintiffs would agree to an extension if Defendants’ counsel would agree on an omnibus hearing for all outstanding motions in this Action – a proposal Plaintiffs’ counsel had first made to Defendants’ counsel last week.
8. Defendants’ counsel understood that Plaintiffs’ counsel was conditioning its support for the Request on Defendants providing them with an answer concerning Plaintiffs’ omnibus hearing proposal. Defendants’ counsel therefore stated in response that Defendants could not agree to an omnibus hearing, but that it would make an alternative proposal to Plaintiffs for the upcoming hearings. In the same email Defendants’ counsel thanked Plaintiffs for agreeing to the Request.
9. Plaintiffs’ counsel responded that it had not agreed to Defendant’s Request, and that it only would do so if Defendants agreed to an omnibus hearing.
You’ve got to appreciate that counsel “understood that Plaintiffs’ counsel was conditioning its support,” but went ahead and “thanked Plaintiffs for agreeing to the Request.” You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. And, presumably, he thought providing opposing counsel an opportunity to come to their senses might provide everyone an off-ramp. Instead, they doubled down.
It’s unclear who ordered this unprofessional code red. The other side is represented by Quinn Emanuel, Kirkland, and Young Conaway. One would’ve hoped some lawyer in that triumvirate would’ve stepped up to counsel against acting like douchebags, but here we are.
Deadlines matter, of course, but this is not a discovery dispute where someone “forgot” to review a million emails. This is the emergency birth of a child.
Judges shouldn’t need to police this. If I were asked to waste my time on an extension the parties should’ve worked out themselves, I’d be pretty pissed to learn it got held up because one side tried to use the lawyer’s personal emergency as leverage to make the client compromise their rights. According to the docket, there’s now an omnibus hearing scheduled, but just because everyone ultimately agreed doesn’t make it acceptable to condition the extension on it in the first place.
This is just asshole behavior. This is why no one likes lawyers.
Thankfully, the couple’s second child was born on August 16 and have already been released from the hospital.
(Check out the filing on the next page…)
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post Lawyers Hold Newborn For Ransom In Scheduling Dispute appeared first on Above the Law.
In the grand tradition of turning every shred of human decency into a bargaining chip, a motion in a bankruptcy action seeks a filing extension from the court after the words “my wife is in the hospital being medically induced eight months into pregnancy” were apparently met with: Sure — but only if you cave on this other procedural demand we’ve been pestering you with.
Nothing says professionalism and collegiality like a hostage negotiation with a newborn as collateral!
Let’s back up. Byju Alpha is a Chapter 11 proceeding in Delaware. As the defendants prepared a reply for the motion to dismiss, Delaware counsel learned that his wife’s pregnancy required a medically necessary induction. Between hospital delays, shuttling back and forth with Maternal Fetal Medicine, and the whole “bringing an actual human life into the world” thing, counsel wasn’t in a position to assist with the reply brief and sought an extension. This is not a frivolous extension to go watch football or catch a baseball game. An induced, 8-month pregnancy is no joke.
On August 18, counsel asked the other side for another couple days to get everything in order. According to the filing, here’s what happened next.
7. Plaintiffs’ counsel replied to Defendants’ counsel’s Request that Plaintiffs would agree to an extension if Defendants’ counsel would agree on an omnibus hearing for all outstanding motions in this Action – a proposal Plaintiffs’ counsel had first made to Defendants’ counsel last week.
8. Defendants’ counsel understood that Plaintiffs’ counsel was conditioning its support for the Request on Defendants providing them with an answer concerning Plaintiffs’ omnibus hearing proposal. Defendants’ counsel therefore stated in response that Defendants could not agree to an omnibus hearing, but that it would make an alternative proposal to Plaintiffs for the upcoming hearings. In the same email Defendants’ counsel thanked Plaintiffs for agreeing to the Request.
9. Plaintiffs’ counsel responded that it had not agreed to Defendant’s Request, and that it only would do so if Defendants agreed to an omnibus hearing.
You’ve got to appreciate that counsel “understood that Plaintiffs’ counsel was conditioning its support,” but went ahead and “thanked Plaintiffs for agreeing to the Request.” You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. And, presumably, he thought providing opposing counsel an opportunity to come to their senses might provide everyone an off-ramp. Instead, they doubled down.
It’s unclear who ordered this unprofessional code red. The other side is represented by Quinn Emanuel, Kirkland, and Young Conaway. One would’ve hoped some lawyer in that triumvirate would’ve stepped up to counsel against acting like douchebags, but here we are.
Deadlines matter, of course, but this is not a discovery dispute where someone “forgot” to review a million emails. This is the emergency birth of a child.
Judges shouldn’t need to police this. If I were asked to waste my time on an extension the parties should’ve worked out themselves, I’d be pretty pissed to learn it got held up because one side tried to use the lawyer’s personal emergency as leverage to make the client compromise their rights. According to the docket, there’s now an omnibus hearing scheduled, but just because everyone ultimately agreed doesn’t make it acceptable to condition the extension on it in the first place.
This is just asshole behavior. This is why no one likes lawyers.
Thankfully, the couple’s second child was born on August 16 and have already been released from the hospital.
(Check out the filing on the next page…)
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
