A Pretty Good Reason to Reopen a Case

O'Brien v. Indiana Department of Correction came down yesterday here in the fine Seventh Circuit. The appeal was about whether or not the plaintiff could add some parties as defendants (*yawn*). The facts, however, are awesome.

O'Brien was a correctional officer and then went to prison for an undisclosed offense. While he was there, he got his ass kicked really bad and lost an eye. He obtained counsel, Indianapolis attorney C. Bruce Davidson, a respectable name. I thought things were about to look up for our one-eyed hero. But then:

On April 8, 2003, attorney Davidson filed a motion seeking an extra two days to respond to the court’s order. For the purposes of this case Davidson was never heard from again... Having heard nothing from Davidson, the district court eventually dismissed the complaint with prejudice.

Huh, a curious JP thinks while perusing the opinion: What the hell happened to dude's lawyer? Here comes Judge Kanne to satiate the pangs:

In November 2003, another Indianapolis attorney, who happened to also be Davidson’s landlord, noticed that Davidson was not diligently contacting his clients and was not paying his rent in a timely manner. He left a note for Davidson to contact him. Davidson did not immediately reply. We now know that Davidson was busy robbing a bank in Cincinnati that November—the first of roughly twenty-five bank robberies that attorney Davidson would commit over the next two years.

So they reopened the case... and then dismissed his motion to add parties while granting defendant's motion to dismiss and affirmed both on appeal. Sorry dude!