This is an interesting post, with an interesting series of follow-up questions. Apparently, multi-national law firm Morrison & Foerester missed a filing deadline for attorneys fees by one minute

The ruling raises other issues. Why didn’t the lawyers file the motion electronically using that federal district court’s electronic filing system instead of having a courier deliver it to the clerk’s office in rush hour traffic on the last day for timely filing? And why doesn’t the Los Angeles-based federal district court have a late filing box where after-hours court filings can be time-stamped and filed, allowing anything filed in person before midnight to be treated as filed on the date of deposit even after the clerk’s office has closed?

It was my understanding that anything other than an initial complaint could be filed electronically in federal court. That’s the case in the Middle District of Tennessee. It seems the Central District of California did not expand electronic filing to all pleadings until the turn of this year, which is really slow to the game.

Second, as Howard Bashman mentions in the post, most courts have drop boxes. Anything found in the drop box by midnight (or by opening of business the next morning, depending on the court), is counted as filed that day. The Central District of California gives us the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard for not maintaining a metal box

The district court’s web site states here that “The drop-off box service has been discontiuned” [sic]. Apparently inadequate funding from the U.S. Congress is to blame for that court’s reduced hours of operation.

Really, how much funding does it take to tie down a glorified mail box?