Lawyer seen by judge as a talking kitten in virtual court hearing
There has been a million virtual court hearings in America since the pandemic struck the nation and the rest of the world. The US court system use the well-known Zoom technology. In this instance, it was first reported that the attorney’s daughter had set a filter on the software which resulted in him presenting himself to the judge as a talking kitten. It is in fact unclear how the filter started up. It may have been software (Dell Webcam Manager) attached to the Zoom software which kicked in automatically once he addressed the judge for some strange reason. It was fine beforehand as he had checked it.
What was worse, he was unable to remove it even with the assistance of somebody else in his virtual office for 42 seconds but it did disappear. The judge accepted it but declared at the end of the hearing that attorneys should make sure that if their daughter had used their computer beforehand they should check for a filter!
"I'm here live. I'm not a cat."
Paw-don this 69-year-old lawyer in the US who attended a Zoom virtual court hearing with a cat filter on. Source: Judge Roy Ferguson via Reuters
READ: https://t.co/Uo8rP4dgTC pic.twitter.com/aPIWZgbSuM
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Virtual court hearing in America included the image of a cat respresenting one of the lawyers. Photo: Zoom screenshot.
The attorney involved had to tell the judge that he was not a cat which provoked some laughter. The vital hearing took place in Texas. The lawyer concerned is Rod Ponton. At the beginning he had no idea that he was coming across to the judge as a white, talking kitten with Scottish Fold ears!
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Judge Ferguson gave Mr Ponton the heads up and as mentioned he struggled to remove the filter. The other lawyers waited patiently and started to giggle. Mr Ponton said, “Can you hear me? I’m here live. I’m not a cat.”
Mr Ponton asked the judge if the proceedings could continue which they did. We not sure whether the filter was removed during the hearing. The video has proved very popular after it was released by the judge “for educational purposes”. I think it is the first court hearing in history anywhere in which one of the lawyers was a cat!
