[author: Eric Troutman]
The law is so arcane.
A jungle of ferns and vines to snag and ensnare.
Only the truly wary can survive long. It takes a survivalist instinct.
I love it here.
As one federal judge said of me once after I failed to fall into various trap that had been set out for me: “You are a very careful lawyer Mr. Troutman.”
Indeed, I am.
And for many a good reason.
Here’s one.
In T-Mobile v. Persichetti 2025 WL 2416172 (GA App. Aug. 21, 2025) a Georgia appeals court refused to set aside a $150k default judgment against T-Mobile and it came down to a simple procedural error by T-Mobile’s attorneys.
In the case below T-Mobile had failed to respond to a set of RFAs and the responses– admitting 100 calls at issue– were taken as conceded.
That was a mistake to be sure but it wasn’t the mistake.
T-Mobile moved to set aside the admission and when the court denied the ruling orally T-Mobile’s attorneys did not request the ruling be made in writing.
Under appellate procedural rules in many jurisdictions– including in Georgia–a ruling that is not reduced to writing cannot be appealed.
So when T-Mobile appealed a resulting $150k judgment that relied on the RFA admissions it was stuck– the appellate court could not set consider the lower court’s failure to permit withdrawal of the admissions. So it lost.
All because of a simple failure to request the ruling be reduced to writing.
In fairness to T-Mobile’s counsel it would take a pretty “careful” attorney to detect and resolve the issue in real time.
Make sure you hire such an attorney.
Chat soon.
[View source.]
