One might think a “Motion to Compel Lunch” might be a docket clogging joke filing or a goofy penalty straight out of the YSL case. But this motion out of Arizona tackles a key procedural issue, albeit in an unconventional manner.
Opposing counsel has, according to the moving party, stopped responding to emails and refuses to take calls, stymying efforts to move the case forward by withholding the necessary meet and confer pre-requisite to any filing. So the court’s being asked to force the lawyers to have lunch.
How did anyone settle on “lunch” as the appropriate remedy? It turns out… there’s precedent!
In 2006, plaintiff counsel in Physicians Choice of Ariz., Inc. v. Miller wanted to talk settlement but the defense attorneys refused to respond. That enterprising attorney asked for lunch and, as the present motion describes it, “in a classic decision from the irreplaceable Hon. Pendleton Gaines,” the court granted this specific form of relief.
The Court has rarely seen a motion with more merit. The motion will be granted.
The Court has searched in vain in the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure and cases, as well as the leading treatises on federal and Arizona procedure, to find specific support for Plaintiff’s motion. Finding none, the Court concludes that motions of this type are so clearly within the inherent powers of the Court and have been so routinely granted that they are non- controversial and require no precedential support.
Of course, counsel asks in the alternative that the meet and confer rules be waived for the duration of the matter.
From my quick scan of the docket, rather than quickly and sheepishly respond that they intend to confer in good faith forthwith and everyone just move on, it seems as though this motion is now fully briefed, with the reply brief arriving earlier this week.
Some people will do anything to get out of a lunch date.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
