Judge Fines NY Lawyer $500 for 'Premeditated, Blatant and Willful' Tardiness
Warned that it was critical to be on time for a 9:30 a.m. trial on March 5, a New York lawyer pushed a state-court judge one time too man.
Arriving at 10 a.m., attorney Douglas G. Rankin then left immediately to talk on his cell phone. When he returned, said Acting Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Suzanne Mondo in a slip opinion (PDF), he blamed traffic for his tardiness, reports the New York Law Journal (sub. req.).
The judge was not sympathetic, fining the sole practitioner $500 for what she described as a “premeditated, blatant and willful” late arrival to the trial in her court, which she said fell within a longstanding pattern of habitual tardiness and trial delay tactics on Rankin’s part.
Rankin wasn’t immediately available to comment, the legal publication reported, and the lawyer who represented him at the sanction hearing said he wanted to talk with him before making any comment about the $500 fine.
