By Mark David Blum, Esq.

A couple days ago, Syracuse attorney Ezequiel Neuman was fined $250 by Cayuga County Supreme Court Judge Mark H. Fandrich for “repeatedly failing to show up on time for court proceedings”. I know Mark Fandrich a lot of years and we were opposing counsel on a brutal and politically charged case. He would concur that it was likely the most heartbreaking case with which either of us had ever been involved. Over time, I came to know Mark, now Judge Fandrich, as being a good man, honorable and soft spoken.

To fine Zeke Newman, however, is way out of line.

For those of you who do not ‘practice’ law or work in the justice system, you need to understand that the whole system is predicated upon a militaryesque “hurry up and wait” process. In Family Court, cartloads of cases are all scheduled for the same time. In Supreme Court and in County Court, calendars are called with 10-50 cases all at once. City Court, local courts, and every other Court in the State system all work on the same premise. Schedule everybody at once and then work through the list. Federal Courts are even worse; where there you can wait years just to get a decision on a motion.

Over the years, I have waited in court hours and hours for judges. Even excluding time spent waiting for my client’s case to be called; I refer just to the hours spent waiting for judges to take the bench on time. Based on the ‘pulling random numbers out of my ass’ formula, I measure the cumulative amount of time I have sat in court rooms in months.

The real issue though is that while judges have the legal power to take action against parties and lawyers who make the judge wait for even a moment, there is no quid pro quo. It is a fair assumption that millions of dollars are wasted each year in legal and other costs by citizens who have to sit around court rooms waiting for judges to arrive or for their case to be called and resolved. Can the client sue the judge when the client is commanded to be there for his turn at X:30 and it is not until 2 hours later that the judge gets around to dealing with the client? Spend an evening Clay Town Court to learn what this feels like. Those who pay their lawyers by the hour suffer the most and have no recourse.

What about the lawyers who are torn between conflicting court appearances and know that calendars take time, and mirror their professional activities to match that of the court. If you have to be in two courts at the same time and each takes an hour or two to dispose of their cases, the lawyer can make both appearances. It is rude and unfair to punish a lawyer whose lateness is not malicious or intentional.

I verily believe that Judge Fandrich’s act in fining Zeke Newman set a real bad precedent. Now moreso than ever, lawyers will be more defensive in their practices, less able to resolve more cases in the same amount of time, and be subject to the whims of a judge should the lawyer not be there at the moment the case is called.

Until the system enables attorneys and clients to have recourse against the judges and the government when that system costs the client or attorney money because of unnecessary and unreasonable delays, it is a paramount injustice to punish a lawyer for the same act. In fact, every practicing attorney probably has enough hours of sitting around time “in the bank” that the system itself owes them. You know where to send the check.