Judge in Mile High Case Sounds Miffed with Plaintiff

Saris, the jurist hearing Basset v. Jensen, a lawsuit filed by Martha’s Vineyard property owner and artist Leah Bassett against Mile High Media and other defendants back in 2018, issued an order Thursday striking memoranda in support of motions to compel recently filed by Bassett – an order worded in a way that suggests the judge may be more than a little irritated.

“The court strikes the memoranda in support of the motions to compel on the grounds they greatly exceed twenty-pages,” Saris’ brief order begins. “Plaintiff did not seek or receive leave of court for excess pages. Moreover, the court did not allow a three-week extension to plaintiff for filing a motion to compel. Finally, the language in the memoranda is vexatious and inappropriate.”

(Pro tip: When the judge describes the language in your memoranda as “vexatious,” that’s bad.)

“The case is scheduled for trial in August, and it is not clear these motions can be resolved in sufficient time to get expert discovery completed and go to trial,” Saris continues.

Then, just in case it isn’t already clear that the judge wants plaintiff’s counsel to tone it down a bit – and keep it brief – Saris writes that Bassett “may refile the memoranda by April 22, 2021 which shall not exceed 20 pages and shall not include insulting or pejorative language.” (Emphasis added.)

This isn’t the first time the judge has issued an order that suggests she’s annoyed with the plaintiff and/or her counsel. In denying Bassett a broad, sweeping injunction she requested earlier in the case, Saris noted that Bassett “delayed three years in filing this lawsuit and then another year and a half in seeking a preliminary injunction,” adding that the delay “undercuts any argument she is at risk of suffering irreparable harm.”

Terming the language used in the recent memoranda as “vexatious” suggests to me a substantial escalation in the judge’s level of irritation, however. Granted, it doesn’t come in the context of calling the litigation itself vexatious, something the judge would likely do only if she were dismissing the case as meritless.

Still, if I had to guess, I’d say the defense attorneys in this case probably cracked a little smile reading the language of Saris’ latest order.