A law firm's spam filter got it widespread negative attention after a state appellate court decision revealed it knowingly kept a faulty email configuration to save $700 to $1,200 a year.

Odom & Barlow's email was the subject of a five-page appellate decision that didn't end well for the firm—or its client, now on the hook to pay nearly $394,000 in attorney fees to the opposing side.

Name partners Bradley S. Odom and Richard D. Barlow were counsel in an eminent domain case in which a judge issued an order assessing attorney fees. They said they did not receive the document and asked the trial court for a new order that would reset the clock on the appeal deadline.