The case Ernie describes above is pretty egregious and possibly worth jail. That’s what I meant by whether there were some missing links in the article that I posted – because in the case I described, the attorney was in trial in another court when he failed to show.
My other question, of course, is what’s the penalty when judges come late? In all the cases I’ve handled, I’ve only experience the opposing attorney late on one or two occasions. But with judges, there are many times that I’ve waited an hour at a case call before they even took the bench. My clients were not too happy about that situation.

The case Ernie describes above is pretty egregious and possibly worth jail. That’s what I meant by whether there were some missing links in the article that I posted – because in the case I described, the attorney was in trial in another court when he failed to show.
My other question, of course, is what’s the penalty when judges come late? In all the cases I’ve handled, I’ve only experience the opposing attorney late on one or two occasions. But with judges, there are many times that I’ve waited an hour at a case call before they even took the bench. My clients were not too happy about that situation.

For what it’s worth, the judge I worked for put a local attorney in jail for a half a day. I was clerking for him when it happened, and it is a matter of great lore in New Orleans. Basically, the attorney tried to blame his secretary for not putting the hearing date on his calender, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But leading up to the event were some things that made it hard for the judge to resist the inclination to put him in jail. First, the attorney failed to show up for a status conference. At that point he received a pro forma “rule to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed.” He wrote the judge a letter saying he would be at the show cause hearing unless he heard that it had been cancelled. It was not cancelled, and he didn’t show up. Turns out he was at home luxuriating when the U.S. Marshalls picked him up. I think if he had accepted responsibility for the situation he wouldn’t have been sent to jail. But blaming his secretary was more than Judge Duplantier could handle.

For what it’s worth, the judge I worked for put a local attorney in jail for a half a day. I was clerking for him when it happened, and it is a matter of great lore in New Orleans. Basically, the attorney tried to blame his secretary for not putting the hearing date on his calender, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But leading up to the event were some things that made it hard for the judge to resist the inclination to put him in jail. First, the attorney failed to show up for a status conference. At that point he received a pro forma “rule to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed.” He wrote the judge a letter saying he would be at the show cause hearing unless he heard that it had been cancelled. It was not cancelled, and he didn’t show up. Turns out he was at home luxuriating when the U.S. Marshalls picked him up. I think if he had accepted responsibility for the situation he wouldn’t have been sent to jail. But blaming his secretary was more than Judge Duplantier could handle.