Courts do Not Favor the Technical (Oops!) Wins

Many rules of civil procedure are liberally construed to prevent the "oops!" or “gotcha!” tactic if a rule is not perfectly complied with. Courts are hesitant to allow another party to prevail merely because its opposition committed a technical or procedural error. Technical wins are generally not favored, as long as there is a reasonable / excusable basis to justify why the technical error occurred. Courts want parties to prevail on the merits of their dispute and not on who wins a procedural error. An example of this general philosophy is the case of Well Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Shelton, 42 Fla....