Q: Opposing counsel submitted discovery responses after court-ordered deadline. Do I have any recourse?
We are very close to settlement. Prior to last court appearance, I submitted all discovery responses and made the appropriate filings. Opposing counsel missed the deadline and asked for more time. Judge gave her til 12/20. She submitted discovery responses on 12/20 but was missing interrogatories and updated FA. She submitted interrogatories on 12/23. As of 12/28, I have still not received FA.
The last court order further stated that we were to have a phone conference prior to 12/21. We did talk on the phone, but opposing counsel primarily asked to postpone our actual conference.
We also wrote in the last court order that 'if possible,' we would send a pretrial memo.
Now, opposing counsel has not contacted me since 12/23. Our pretrial hearing is 1/3, at 8:30am.
She did make some claims in her marital interrogatories that I do not agree with. Of course, she had the advantage of reading my responses first.
Am I simply on the defensive here?
A: I don't think "defensive" is the correct word. It's more like you may be expecting too much rigidity from the legal system. Discovery deadlines are not like a railroad that runs perfectly on time. Non-lawyers are often too technical and expect 100% timely compliance. In reality, most judges generally allow some reasonable flexibility.
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