Civil Procedure — notice of appeal

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United States Court of Appeals

Civil

Civil Procedure — notice of appeal

It was not an abuse of discretion to accept a late notice of appeal, where the appellant’s attorney purported to file a timely notice, but was not successful.

“In this case, Abuelyaman’s attorney purported to file and serve the notice of appeal electronically one day before the filing deadline. Unfortunately, something went awry and none of the documents was properly filed. Counsel averred that not only had she attempted to file and serve the notice electronically, but also that she had provided the clerk’s office with her credit card information to process the filing fee payment and that she mailed a copy of the notice of appeal to her co-counsel. Six days after the filing deadline, counsel realized that the documents had not been filed and promptly filed a motion to extend the time for filing the notice of appeal. Given these facts, the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that counsel acted in good faith when she attempted to file the notice of appeal. True, counsel’s suspicions should have been aroused when she failed to receive a standard electronic confirmation; however, it seems quite clear that counsel believed that she had fully complied with the filing requirements, especially when she concomitantly attempted to pay the filing fee. Moreover, Illinois State can hardly claim prejudice when the motion to extend time was filed only six days after the deadline and when it did not even bother to respond to that motion. Under these circumstances, there was no abuse of discretion and this case is properly before us.”

Affirmed.

10-2926 Abuelyaman v. Illinois State University

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Mihm, J., Manion, J.