In their blog post “Tragic Magic or Relief from Your Grief” on The Present and Ready Blog, Elizabeth Geary and Pryce Stewart explore the Texas Supreme Court’s leniency in applying the good cause standard for missed deadlines.
In Verhalen v. Akhtar, the Texas Supreme Court clarified that courts must allow late filings if an attorney demonstrates “good cause,” meaning the delay was unintentional and caused no harm to the opposing party. The ruling reinforces a more lenient approach, emphasizing that minor mistakes—such as software errors—should not block parties from having their case heard on the merits.