A Texas lawyer attended a video court hearing unable to remove the adorable big-eyed kitten filter from his Zoom account, but he didn’t let that stop him from his official business.
“I am prepared to go ahead with this,” lawyer Rod Ponton told the judge, explaining that he and his assistant were struggling to remove the filter.
At Zoom’s audience, Ponton’s face was obscured, but the cat’s big eyes could be seen hilariously falling on the screen.
The exchange took place Tuesday before the 394th District Court of Justice.
It was first discovered by lawyer Kendyl Hanks and posted on Twitter. Many of Zoom’s court hearings cannot be recorded, but Hanks wrote that he was given permission to publish them for educational purposes.
The court hearing seemed to start with two lawyers and a cat ready to proceed until Judge Roy Ferguson raised the issue in an expressionless voice.
“Mr. Ponton, I believe you have a filter enabled in the video settings,” he said.
One of the lawyers quickly grabbed his glasses for a better look as the cat began to perk up, its eyes and mouth moving as Ponton tried to explain the strange situation.
“I don’t know how to remove it,” said Ponton, like a virtual cat. “I have my assistant here. She is trying, but I am prepared to go ahead.”
“I am not a cat,” he said, while the kitten looked pitying, and another of the lawyers looked up and smirked at the situation.
“I can see that,” replied Ferguson.
Ponton, a lawyer for Presidio County, told BuzzFeed News that he joined the hearing from a secretary’s computer.
“When I joined Zoom for the audience, much to my surprise, it was a cat,” he said.
Like other lawyers across the country, Ponton had to use Zoom and other videoconferencing applications more often for court hearings during the pandemic and had his share of setbacks such as being unable to enter or his witnesses having trouble connecting.
He never appeared as a cat before, however.
He was more than willing to go to the audience like a cat, he said, but he got help before things started.
“The judge figured out how to remove the filter and remove it, and miraculously my less humorous image of an old man appeared during the hearing,” he said.
On Twitter, Ferguson posted a clip of the exchange and noted that, while hilarious, the virtual hiccup shows how lawyers and legal professionals are facing unexpected problems while ensuring that the legal process continues during the pandemic.
“These fun moments are a by-product of the legal profession’s dedication to ensuring that the justice system continues to function in these difficult times,” tweeted Ferguson. “Everyone involved dealt with it with dignity, and the filtered lawyer showed incredible grace. True professionalism in all aspects!”
The ongoing pandemic has forced courts across the country to use videoconferencing, as many personal hearings have been canceled, and the move to virtual courts has been difficult since the beginning.
Last year, a judge wrote to lawyers in Florida reminding them to wear a shirt and not to attend virtual hearings in bed or by the pool.
“These are not casual phone conversations,” Judge Dennis Bailey reproached lawyers in April.
Judge Ferguson also suggested to lawyers that, if their children used the computer before them, they might turn off the filters before appearing in court.
Ponton said he was grateful that the other lawyers and the judge were able to maintain their composure during the hearing. He’s also fine that the hilarious video is now going viral online.
“If the country can stop for a moment and laugh at a computer mess at my expense, I’m happy,” he said. “It has been a stressful time.”