Greetings,

I was hoping to find out from anyone the normal amount of time it takes a District Court Judge to sign a Proposed Order.

We were part of an ERISA litigation due to my father's estranged wife having him murdered back in 2004 for his Life Insurance. She was convicted 11/19/2007 and Sentenced on 2/8/2008. She was convicted of 1st Degree Murder, Attempted Murder and Solicitation to Commit Murder. With Special Circumstances for 1st and Attempted. She will serve a minimum of 34 years to Life.

After her conviction, we filed a claim for our Father's Life Insurance policy, as per instructed. The Plan Administrator then decided they wanted to wait for her Appeal, but we provided the Probate Code that shows even if her case is on appeal that she is removed from receiving the proceeds, and they are she are protected in the unlikely event she won an appeal and her conviction was overturned. She was on tape admitting her guilt.

It was at that time that the Plan Administrator decided to take the Interpleader route. As expected, she did not file an answer to the complaint nor to the cross-complaint. Our attorney and the Plan Administrator had the clerk enter a default. Then, after the Plan Administrator was dismissed and awarded $10,000.00 for legal fees and costs, the Judge ordered our attorney to submit a Proposed Order. That was done on 8/18/2008. We have keep track of PACER and nothing is being done. Proof of Service was posted showing she was notified, and our attorney posted the other Proof of Service where she signed receiving the Proposed Order. When we call the Clerk, we are told the order is on the Judge's desk.

It's been on the desk for going on 50+ days and we are wondering why a Judge would sit on a Proposed Order so long when it is a Default and should be a simply signing and moving on.

To people like us it just does not make sense, cause most workers want their desk cleared and workload completed.

Any ideas? Is there a legal reason why it needs to take this long?:confused:

If you were told it was sitting on the judge's desk - who told you this? Is this is Federal Court and not state court, this could take some time for the judge to sign and get back to you. Did whoever submitted the order enclose the proper amount of copies and mailing envelopes when they submitted the order? That could make all the difference in the world not getting it back. The court generally does not supply the mailing envelopes with the postage to mail out copies of the order. Check with whoever sent the order to the judge to sign.

The proposed order was submitted via the required e-filing. Our attorney already sent the required copies to the other parties. What is supposed to occur is that the Judge signs, and the Clerk scans the signed document into CM-ECF, then our attorney is required to print out the signed order and send it to all required parties. At least, this is what we are told. But we check PACER/CM-ECF daily.

It was the clerk who stated that the Proposed Order is on the Judge's desk.

The proposed order was submitted via the required e-filing. Our attorney already sent the required copies to the other parties. What is supposed to occur is that the Judge signs, and the Clerk scans the signed document into CM-ECF, then our attorney is required to print out the signed order and send it to all required parties. At least, this is what we are told. But we check PACER/CM-ECF daily.

It was the clerk who stated that the Proposed Order is on the Judge's desk.



You're paying an Attorney - he/she is the person to put the pressure on the Judge through his/her Clerk to get this moving.

Understood. But our attorney charges us minimum $30.00 to provide us a response that says "I will follow-up with Clerk" then additional money to get us the status, such as:
"Clerk tells me the order and judgment is on the judge's desk for signature (which probably means in a large pile labeled "routine"). Federal district court judges often take a month or even two before getting around to signing a judgment. I'll keep after her clerk periodically.

This response cost us $120.00 because he charged us for engaging the clerk and then typing their response. So, getting a simple status check resulted in us paying $150.00.

The attorney's fee's thus far have exceeded $14,000.00 which means the children are having to pay out of the proceeds that should have gone to them over $25,000.00 of legal expenses because our laws suck and because ERISA does not contain a clause that clearly states a person who MURDERS the covered participant CAN NOT benefit through being the Beneficiary.