The Second Circuit just dismissed the appeal filed by Charles Nesson and his partners from the Open Access Trust. They had tried to intervene in the case, but Judge Chin denied their motion. They responded by appealing to the Second Circuit, but failed to file various forms on time. The Second Circuit issued an order to show cause—which they didn’t respond to. Result: appeal summarily dismissed.
To not file the required forms is understandable: like most courts, the Second Circuit’s local procedures contain many traps for the unwary. But to not even respond to the Court’s orders — that is some shoddy lawyering.
What makes this worse is that, if my experience is any guide, the Court probably tried to contact the lawyers informally many, many times before issuing the order.