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Why Proofreading Makes Sense

Court document includes embarrassing typo about the medical condition of plaintiff's counsel?

Published Sept. 17, 2005

Claim:

Claim:   Court document includes embarrassing typo about the medical condition of plaintiff's counsel.


Status:   Undetermined.

Origins:   In mid-September 2005 we began receiving copies of a PDF produced from faxed versions of court documents. Usually titled something like "Why proofreading makes sense . . .", the e-mailed file contains no explanation, just a reproduction of two

documents.

The first document is a motion filed in Miami-Dade County Court in the matter of Davant Development Corp. vs. Southeastern Freight Lines, Inc., with the plaintiff's requesting a continuance on the grounds that "counsel for the plaintiff is recovering from dick surgery and because of continuing pain is unable to properly represent plaintiff in a trial."

The second document reveals why no explanation is necessary: it's a letter from a physician stating that aforementioned counsel for the plaintiff is currently under his care and suffers from a "Disk Herniation L4/L5 which does not allow him to sit for long periods of time."

We don't know whether the goof was the result of a mishearing, a mistake in transcription, or an unfortunate typographical error, but it likely produced more than a few chuckles around the courthouse and some chagrined faces at the law firm of plaintiff's counsel.

Last updated:   17 September 2005


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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