A Georgia Lawyer Convinced A Judge To Postpone A Trial So He Can Go To The Rose Bowl

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We’re only a few days away from the start of the new year, which means we’ll finally be treated to some college football bowl games that don’t feature some regional sponsor you’ve never heard of and two teams the vast majority of the country couldn’t give less of a shit about. There’s a solid slate of games taking place on New Year’s Eve, but the real fun begins after the ball drops when the College Football Playoff officially kicks off when the two-seeded Oklahoma Sooners take on the number three Georgia Bulldogs in the Rose Bowl at 5 PM on Monday.

Over 90,000 people will head to Pasadena to watch the game in person— including Patrick Connell, a Savannah-based attorney and rabid Dawgs fan who is heading out to California with his brother in the hopes of watching his team secure a spot in the National Championship. It didn’t take much convincing to get him to fly out for the game, but there was one person who needed to be persuaded: the judge overseeing the case he was scheduled to argue on the morning of January 2nd.

On December 22nd, Connell filed an emergency motion in an attempt to postpone the date of a civil case he is currently participating in. He carefully crafted a five-page argument in the hopes of getting judge Michael Karpf (who is also a Bulldogs fan) to put the trial on hold until he was able to make it back to Georgia, and five days later, he learned that his lawyering skills had done the job.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution explained how the attorney used some good ol’ fashion pathos to persuade the judge:

Connell justified his request in the motion by citing the historic nature of the College Football Playoff game, which will be Georgia’s second Rose Bowl appearance and first since World War II, and breaking down the on-field achievements of players including Nick Chubb, Roquan Smith and Jake Fromm.

Connell also noted a personal connection to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart: Smart’s mother was Connell’s English teacher at Bainbridge High School, where Smart attended. Smart’s father was the football coach and Connell’s father was the principal.

On Wednesday, Karpf released a three-page response announcing the trial would be rescheduled for the following morning. However, there is one catch: Connell will have to explain why his attendance failed to contribute to a Bulldogs victoriy if they end up losing to the Sooners.

Here’s to hoping the plantiff and defendant in this case are as amused by this as everyone else seems to be.

 

 

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Connor Toole is the Deputy Editor at BroBible. He is a New England native who went to Boston College and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Frequently described as "freakishly tall," he once used his 6'10" frame to sneak in the NBA Draft and convince people he was a member of the Utah Jazz.