What Does It Mean When A Lawyer Passes A Hearing?


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What does it mean when a lawyer passed the hearing that was set for Monday?

That is not a typical phrase that is used regarding hearings, but I have a few guesses as to what you may be referring to.

It’s possible that the attorney missed the hearing. In the extreme, this could result in a default judgment against the attorney’s client, meaning that the client automatically loses. If the attorney missed the hearing, it may result in malpractice for the attorney. If the attorney received proper notice of the hearing and missed it without informing the court, and a decision was made against his client’s interests, the client could sue the attorney for failing to provide adequate representation. Depending on the type of decision made and the reasons for it, the decision may or may not be overturned. If, however the attorney did not receive notice or attempted to inform the court of a need to reset the hearing, the client could appeal any adverse decision made against him by the court. If the client did not have any adverse decision made against him, the attorney may still be reprimanded by the court. The client may still be able to file a complaint against the attorney, but would not be able to sue the attorney. The client could also succeed in asking the court to allow him to replace his attorney with another one.

It is also possible that the attorney asked for a continuance or a resetting. If this is the case, the attorney asked the judge to delay the hearing. The judge has the discretion to allow this delay or require that the hearing go forward as scheduled. If it’s delayed, the all of the parties must come to the new hearing date.

Another possible meaning of this phrase is that the attorney prevailed at the hearing, or won. If this is the case, it depends on what the hearing was for as to what the outcome would be. If it was a hearing that gave a final decision on a case, like in for worker’s compensation, the party that won will have won the case unless the other party appeals the decision and wins the appeal. If the hearing was dealing with pre-trial matters, on the other hand, then winning at the hearing merely puts that attorney in a better position during the trial.