What to do when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.

Rule 8.25(b)(3)(B) of the California Rules of Court provides that several categories of documents, including a brief, a petition for review, an answer to a petition for review, and a reply to an answer to a petition for review, are timely “if the time to file has not expired on the date of” their “delivery to a common carrier promising overnight delivery as shown on the carrier’s receipt.” This can be a useful rule, especially when your client has asked you on a Friday to prepare a petition for review due the following Monday. But a word to the wise: When relying on the rule, be sure to submit the carrier’s receipt with the petition, and be sure the receipt “promis[es] overnight delivery” as the rule requires. We know of at least one recent case in which the Supreme Court clerk’s office rejected an otherwise timely petition for review submitted in reliance on Rule 8.25(b)(3)(B) because the petition was not accompanied by such a receipt.