Did he ever answer any of the interogatories ? I thought the only answer his attorney ever managed to write was 'the question is overaly broad blabalabla'. He wouldn't even confirm his name.
Well, I was going to research the history of the case a bit anyway, so let’s take a look at his response time on the Interrogatories, Requests for Admission, and the Requests for Production/To Produce. From a brief bit of online research, it looks like the receiver of such filings usually has 30 days.
Cirrus filed its lawsuit on 2 September 2011. Cirrus filed all three (Admissions, Interrogatories, and Production) on the 19th of that month. The case file shows that Campbell hadn’t been served as of a month later, but service was accepted on 25 October. On the same day, a motion to dismiss was filed, so we can presume that Campbell had his first pair of lawyers by that point.
On the 9th of December (about 45 days later), Campbell responded to the Request for Admissions. The first Request for Admissions was “Defendant James R. Campbell (“Campbell”) is an individual who resides in Green Cove Springs, Clay County, Florida.” Campbell’s answer was “Defendants cannot jointly admit or deny the statement….” The same response was given to all 29 questions.
If this had been the only issue, the answers should have easily been filed with 30 days. Why two weeks longer? Perhaps it was a valid, critical legal point that needed researching (I’m not a lawyer). It could also reflect a difficulty in getting the Defendant to cooperate; if you don’t have an answer, find some way to delay the proceedings a bit.
Cirrus re-served the same three items to Campbell and KSA separately on the 19th of December 2011 (just ten days later). The clock was running again.
Just before the response deadline, Campbell’s attorneys filed for an extension of time…at the same time they asked the Judge for permission to withdraw from the case. The motion to withdraw claimed, “There have arisen irreconcilable differences between counsel for the Defendants and the Defendants.” The motion for more time cited the motion to withdraw.
The court date to hear the motion to withdraw and the motion for an extension of time was set for the 16th of February. Campbell provided answers to the Request for Admissions almost three weeks earlier, on the 2nd of February 2012. Again, this was almost 45 days from the date the amended questions were submitted. And, note that the motion for extension had not yet been granted.
The judge issued an order releasing the attorneys on the 21st of February. The order did not mention an extension of time for the outstanding Requests for Production and the Interrogatories.
Campbell was given 30 days to find a new attorney. 29 days later, he submitted a hand-written plea for more time… claiming he’d just received notice that his attorneys had been released. At that point, he was 61 days behind in his responses. Cirrus filed for a summary judgment due to Campbell’s lack of compliance with the judge’s order, and a court date of 21 May was set.
On the 18th of May, a new lawyer filed papers indicating he was now representing Campbell (Campbell’s third attorney). As of this point, Campbell’s responses were 120 days late.
After the court hearing on the 21st, the judge ordered Campbell to respond to the Request for Production and the Interrogatories within ten days, or by 1 June 2012. The actual responses were (wait for it…) late, but only by a couple of days (4 June).
On the 29th of October, 2012, Cirrus again filed a set of Interrogatories and a Request for Production.
Campbell responded to the Request for Production about 23 days later (21 November), and at the same time, filed an objection to the Interrogatories. The objection was that the number of Interrogatories exceeded the 30 allowed by Florid Rules of Civil Procedure.
Twelve days later, Campbell’s third attorney moved to withdraw. He cited, “Defendants have failed to substantially fulfill their obligations to the Law Firm…furthermore, the Law Firm’s representation has been recently rendered unreasonably difficult by Defendants.” It also pointed out that the firm had prepared a counterclaim for Campbell, which is probably part of the reason for Cirrus demanding written releases as part of the settlement.
As of this point, the clock wasn’t running on any Requests…the one for Production had been answered, and the one for Interrogatories was held off by the objection.
On the 15th of January, the judge granted the motion to withdraw. He gave Campbell only ten days to find a new attorney. Three days later, Cirrus withdrew enough of the Interrogatories to satisfy the objection, and the clock was running again.
Campbell had a new lawyer a week later (the scheduling of a deposition in early February probably was probably the cause of the rapid action). On the 27th of February, he responded to Cirrus’ latest interrogatories… 40 days after they were filed, but only 33 days after the new attorney had joined the case.
Cirrus filed more Requests for Production two weeks later, but they were basically overcome by events, with the preliminary out-of-court settlement.
Ron Wanttaja
Kinda reminds me of all the people who are surprised that a guy my size fits in a Mooney - In fact, it's the most comfortable airplane I've ever flown, despite its reputation as being small and cramped. That's when I remind folks that Al Mooney was 6'5" - An inch taller than me.
