A federal judge has denied a plaintiffs attorney's motion seeking reconsideration of an order requiring her to pay $89,234.74 in fees and other costs to Camden County for bringing frivolous litigation.

U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman of the District of New Jersey on Tuesday said Sewell solo Cheryl Cooper's repeated missed deadlines and filings did not constitute "excusable neglect" for reconsideration of the judgment, upholding the sanction issued earlier this year by the late senior U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle.

"For the litany of reasons detailed, supra, the Court finds that Ms. Cooper's 'inadvertence reflects a complete lack of diligence' on her part. Therefore, this factor does not weigh in favor of finding 'excusable neglect,'" Hillman said. "In sum, there are no factors weighing in favor of deeming Ms. Cooper's failure to timely file her financial documents to be 'excusable neglect.'"

Reached by phone, Cooper said she had no comment on Hillman's ruling.

In Sosinavage v. Thomson, Cooper sued Camden County, Police Chief Scott Thomson and two deputy chiefs, on behalf of her client, John Sosinavage, a former lieutenant in the Camden Police Department who alleged he suffered discrimination based on age and protected First Amendment activity when he was not invited to apply to the Camden County Police Department while his name appeared on a statewide list of laid-off public employees. The city police department was disbanded in 2013 and the Camden County Police Department began serving the city. He also sued the city of Camden.

Simandle dismissed the county defendants in May 2018. And Cooper was sanctioned in February for failing to withdraw or correct her deficient pleadings even after receiving notice that those claims were not supported by facts. At that time, Simandle said Cooper pursued the failure-to-hire claim for more than three years against the county "that she knew or should have known was factually and legal frivolous, despite clear warning of precisely these deficiencies in 2015."

Last April 4, Simandle ordered Cooper to reimburse Camden County $89,234 in legal fees for pursuing a frivolous action. In a memorandum opinion and judgment, Simandle granted county defendants' unopposed application for legal fees and expenses, and entered judgment in their favor.

Simandle died last July at age 70. Hillman took over the case.

Hillman, in his decision Tuesday, cited Simandle's allowing Cooper to submit an affidavit regarding her ability to pay since she was a solo practitioner, likely with limited resources. Cooper filed multiple extensions of time to respond, but failed to follow through, though she did move for reconsideration of the fee order, Hillman said.

In denying it, Hillman said she failed to meet the criteria in the standard of review involved in a motion for reconsideration.

The Supreme Court has identified excusable neglect factors as "the danger of prejudice … the length of the delay and its potential impact on judicial proceedings, the reason for the delay, and whether the movant acted in good faith."

Hillman said he did not see any evidence that there has been "an intervening change in the controlling law," or that there is now "new evidence that was not available" when Simandle entered the judgment in question, or that there is a "need to correct a clear error of law or fact or to prevent manifest injustice."

Cooper's late filings and failure to submit a timely financial hardship affidavit did not fall under those categories, said Hillman, who rejected Cooper's claim that she misread an email notification that she received regarding denial of her request to stay the deadlines but granting an extension and other requests. That claim "strains credulity" given her many years as an experienced attorney, Hillman said.

"Notwithstanding the stresses of Ms. Cooper's other cases and notwithstanding her medical conditions, the Court notes that Ms. Cooper has years of experience litigating in this District and she has provided no explanation as to why she only now, in the context of the underlying motion for sanctions, realized that email notifications regarding documents filed on the docket do not always contain the full text of those documents," Hillman said.

Because of delays, the defendants "had to spend even more time and financial resources litigating this case, which Judge Simandle has already ruled was so frivolous as to justify awarding County Defendants all of their attorneys' fees and costs," Hillman said.

"This smacks of gamesmanship not good faith," he wrote, adding that Cooper didn't make the connection as to how changes in her medical coverage and condition impacted her ability to meet deadlines.