Trials & Litigation

Federal Judge Grants Motion to Delay Trial So Attorney & Family Can Attend BCS Title Game

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Seeking to persuade a federal judge in Alabama to grant a civil trial delay so he and his family could attend the Bowl Championship Series title game next month, attorney Michael Mulvaney attached photographic evidence—two photos of his daughters, as youngsters wearing Auburn jerseys, and as teenagers—as he pleaded for a chance to pursue the “once in a lifetime” opportunity to see his team seek the title.

He wasn’t sure if U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose might be an Alabama fan, so he made reference to Alabama’s coach, Nick Saban, too, in the motion he filed Wednesday in federal court in Mobile, Mulvaney tells the Birmingham News.

But it appears that DuBose, who granted the Hartford Fire Insurance Co. attorney’s unopposed motion later the same day, may share his appreciation of the Auburn team. In her order granting the trial delay, she states that “[t]he court has a unique understanding of the predicament of Hartford’s lead counsel. See Exhibit A.”

The referenced exhibit is an undated studio photo of an unidentified young girl holding a football and wearing a navy jumper with with orange kick pleats, and a stuffed tiger is in the background.

“I did not want to assume that my schedule is more important than anybody else,” Mulvaney tells the newspaper. But “this is huge, this is Cam Newton and Auburn—I had to ask.”

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