We'll Try, But It's Going to Be Dicey ….

A bit of pragmatic candor from an order today in Point Bridge Capital, Inc. v. Johnson (N.D. Tex.):

Plaintiffs' Motion to Permit Remote Trial Testimony of Expert Witness … states that their expert has been hospitalized for heart problems and is under strict doctor's orders not to travel. Plaintiffs submit a sworn affidavit in support of their Motion…. Defendant indicated that he would leave the determination up to the undersigned. Thus, the Court assumes he is unopposed. Accordingly, the Court finds it appropriate to GRANT Plaintiffs' Motion under these extenuating circumstances.

The Court notes that due to the age of the Courthouse, and the general policies in the Fort Worth Division, remote testimony has only ever been attempted once before by the Court—under similarly appropriate circumstances. That attempt was unsuccessful and as a result the Court was forced to strike the witness. Thus, the Court highly recommends that Plaintiffs contact the Court IT as soon as possible.

Comments

[tuphat]

" ... due to the age of the Courthouse." What's that got to do with it? Do they have cell towers in Fort Worth? Is the Court IT Dept. still using floppy disks? Suggestion: get a local high school AV club to set up some monitors, speakers and mics, and get on with it.

[wvattorney13]

The troubling part is that it didn't work last time!

[MatthewSlyfield]

.

" ... due to the age of the Courthouse." What's that got to do with it?

Old wiring, lack of network infrastructure in the building.
As to using cellular networks, an old building with old wiring could cause problems with cellular reception inside the building.

[NvEric]

Finished in 1934, and they do have modern technology.

[wvattorney13]

Typical government. Something any homeless person with a smartphone can do and it turns into a problem because it doesn't fit the mold of how they normally do it.

[MatthewSlyfield]

In my experience, cellular reception can be dicey in some buildings, and it seems to be worse with older buildings.

[tuphat]

I'd bet at least a little that the employees working in the building have no trouble watching TikTok and FaceTiming with friends.

[comex]

The court would probably be using a computer for their side of the connection, not a phone, so it would probably be connected to the Internet through Wi-Fi or Ethernet rather than cellular. Wi-Fi reception likewise can be affected by building materials and router placement. But it’s not rocket science. One would hope a federal court’s IT staff would already have working Wi-Fi in the courtrooms! And ideally Ethernet too, since a wired connection is still the most reliable option.